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About Google Book Search Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web at |http: //books .google .com/I 70- r *■ -b. r irv GERMANY, BOHEMIA, AND HUNGARY, Visited in 1837. BY THE REV. G. R GLEIG, M.A., CHAPLAIN TO THE ROYAL HOSPITAL, CHELSEA, IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. III. LONDON: JOHN W. PARKER, WEST STRAND. M.DCCC.XXXIX. y6^ 'J 7^3 r t 2 PREPARATIONS FOR pedestrian tour, on the accomplishment of which we had set our hearts. He declared himself utterly confounded by the proposal. Such a thing had never been heard of in Hun* gary,and such a thing ought not to be attempted; for, in the first place, nobody would treat us, either on the road or at the inns, with the respect which was our due ; and, in the next, he did not believe that we should be safe. We smiled at these objections, assuring him, that of respect, in his acceptation of the term, we were not at all covetous ; and that, as to per- sonal danger, we had heard so much, and seen so little of it, elsewhere, that we could not bring ourselves to entertain the slightest appro* hension of it, " Very well, gentlemen," was the landlord's reply, ** your pleasure must be done. But I warn you, that Hungary is hot like Greiv many ; and that in the mountains towards which you propose to go, there are plenty of bad people concealed. It is not at all certain that Sobri himself is dead, and if he be, he has left nume- rous representatives behind hiin." We had no leisure then to inquire into the history of Sobri ; neitlier, indeed, did it occiur to us that such inquiry would be worth making. But, having intrusted our host with certain articles of apparel» with which we considered it A HUNGARIAN TOUR. 3 unnecessary, in so warm a climate, to overload ourselves, we begged him to keep them safe till we should return to claim them. As we never did return, I trust that the honest man has long ago converted them to his own use ; and should it be otherwise, I hereby give him^ ample authority so to dispose of them. We slept that night, despite of the land- lord's warnings, ai^ we generally did, like tops, and at early dawn were astir, and full of zeal for the enterprise before us. The morn- ing was fine, and the sky mottled with shifts ing clouds. We ate our breakfast ' merrily,, settled our bill, which, by-the-by, was by no means moderate, and buckling on our knap- sacks, resumed, once more, our erratic course very much at the guidance of fortune. An object we doubtless had. It was, to penetrate through the Carpatiail range into Gralicia, to pass on as far as Cracow, if practicable, and returning by Transylvania, to visit Pesth and Ofen. This done, our imaginations pointed towards Styriai lUyria, and Italy ; for we con- ceived that there would hot be much to inte- rest or amuse in the great plain of Hungary, and visions of Rome herself were before us. But, as often happens with men who speculate on contingencies, our scheme was not destined B 2 4 ENVIRONS OF to be worked out. We never crossed the Ga- lician border at all; we never saw Cracow; we did traverse a large portion of the Hungarian plain, and enjoyed the expedition exceedingly. So much for the difference that, even in mat- ters of travel, will sometimes occur between theory and practice. Our point, this day, was Modem, a town on the way to Trentschin, and distant from Pres- burg about eighteen or twenty English miles. We made for it along a well-constructed road, which skirting the bases of the mountains, in- troduced us, at every step, to scenes of sur- passing interest. On our left stood the hills, low, and covered with vineyards to their sum- mits, — ^the roots and offshoots of the giant Trasses which separate Hungary, on the west and north, from Moravia and GUdicia ; on our right, a vast plain, feathered here and there with clumps of trees, and presenting the ap- pearance rather of an enormous park, than of a portion of a wide agricultural district. Hedge- rows and gardens, too, were, for a while abun- dant; the latter stocked with vegetables and fruits for which Presburg supplies a market, the former kept, as long as they continued to adorn the landscape, with a neatness which would have done no discredit to Kent or PRESBUBO. 5 Somersetshire. Yet the appearance of every- tiiing around us, animate as well as inanimate, bore a character quite distinct from all which we had previously encountered. We felt that .we were at last in a new country; we were conscious that we should have to deal with .people not alone essentially different from our* selves, but having nothing in common either with the Germans or the Bohemians. We saw that, in their domestic habits, in their indi- vidual bearing, in their dressy complexion, and mode of exercising their powen^ they belonged to a portion of human society with which we had yet to form an acquaintance. The dark and swarthy countenances, of the men, their small, piercing eyes, their long^ shaggy, and matted hair,: which hung over; their shoulders^ the moustache shading the upper lip, with. here and there a beard that reached to the chest ; these things, one and all, pointed to a stock-— quite distinct from that to which the natives of the west of Europe trace back their origin. It. seemed to me as if we had passed the line which divides one of the great families of man- kind from another, and if I did not look round for pagodas and mosques, their occurrence, at any given moment, would have little surprised me. 6 DRESS OF It was not, however, in their features alone, that the race among which we now found ourselves, differed from the inhabitants of the other provinces through which we had passed. There was a complete change of costume^ a complete change of deportment, a complete change in the construction of their dwellings, and in every thing which might have contri* Imted to the formation of their national char lacter. The groups of peasants whom we met^ some bearing burdens, others driving loaded cars towards the town, reminded me^ indeed, a little of the Torpindas. The men wore like them, short cloaks of coarsa brown cloth, and hosen of the same material, made tight to the shape. Their head-dress, too, was the broad, sombrero hat; and they carried long poles in their hands^ shod with iron spikes. But the women were absolute novelties; for not one female Torpinda had ever crossed our path. Their dress was a sort of loose bodice^ with a handkerchief tied over their heads ; petticoats wide^ but of meagre longitude^ and coloured stockings ; while both sexes had their feet pro- tected against the wear and tear of travel, by pointed wooden clogs. Moreover, the very men bore no other resemblance to the Tor- pindas than might be created by a similarity THB PEAaAMTRY. 7 in costume and oomplexion. The Torpindas fttmck me, wherever I saw them, as a morose and sullen race. These peasants were as much othendse as can easily be imagined. No doubt we were to them objects of quite as much coriositj as they could be to us ; and we re- ceived from them, in consequence, many a iHnoad and lengthened stare as we passed. But it was always accompanied by a goodes, showed to peculiar advantage ; but a couple of hours' walk sufficed to effect a change* We . were^ by this time, getting, be- yond the influence of civic society. The gar- dens, tilled and stocked for the exclusive bene* fit of Presburg, became gradually less nume* reus, till they ceased altogether. The bases, and a portion of the ascent of the hilli^ might continue green with an abundant crop of the b A SLAVONIAN VILLAQE. vine ; but the snmmits, rising more and more ^boYO the plain, assumed a bolder aspect, and forests, the growth of ages, crowned them* Moreover, we looked to the right, and saw that, in that direction, too, the scene was put- ting on a different character. The park-like appearance of the landscape, melted, by de- grees, away. The lordly clumps of oak and beech ceased to challenge our regard; and the enormous meadow merged in the commence? inent of a corn-field, the limits of which no powers of vision could reach. Away, and away, beyond the fieirthest ken of human eye, the wheat and the rye were waving— without a hamlet, without a cottage, without a homestead, without a stall to break in upon their sameness. It was one of the most extraordinary, and I must add, most uninteresting specimens of fer-* tility which has ever come under the observation of my senses, and my imagination had no means of embracing it. - We might have traversed a space of eight English miles, pausing, from time to time, to look round from the eminences that came iii our way, when a Slavonian village, — ^the first of the sort which we had seen, — appeared in the distance. It reminded me more of the wig- wams which I have seen inhabited by slaves in APPEARANCE OF THE INHABITANTS. 9 Jamaica, than of any. settlement of labourers in anjr quarter of civilized Europe. It was a mere hamlet, containing, perhaps, some twenty huts, all of them circular in their form, and thatched over with straw; and as they stood apart one from another, there needed but a small stretch of the fancy to regard them as the dwelling-places of negroes. But the figm^s which passed to and from th^n, — ^how shall I describe these? Their loose trowsers and short cloaks, their hats^ broad in the brim, yet sharp and high in tho crown, came upon us at first with an effect so strange, that I know not in what terms to de« fine it. Had we been standing in any other situation than under the burning sun of a July day, I could haye fancied that we had fallen suddenly among a body of Esquimaux. And then . their -tools,i—> their three-pronged spades, with handles twelve feet long at the least; their rude litters for the conveyance of corn* sheafs, their rakes, their hoes, fabricated on the exact model of the classics, and their ploughs, mere beams of timber, put together in the most unworkmanlike manner ; all these were so dif* ferent from the implements made use of else- where, as more and more to impress upon us an assurance that at length our craving after the novel in human society, would be gratified. B 3 10 GLORIOUS PANOBAICA. We sat down on the brow of a knoll to exar mine these objects while we rested ; and pur- sued our journey at last in a degree of exhilira- tion and excitement^ even to look back on which is highly agreeable. We had been so much oceiq)ied up to tiie present moment with the novelties which, at each step in advance crowded upon us, that the idea of looking behind never once occurred. Before quitting the brow^ of the hill, thoughts of the past came back upon us^ and we turned round. I never beheld a more striking scene of the kind. The road, the hills^ the park-like plain, were all as we had previously seen them, with this single^ though most marked excep- tion, that they were all beheld in a different point of view ; but the extrraiity of the pano- rama was that which mainly delighted us. TheKf at tiie utmost limit of a huge vista, uprose the castle of Prosburg, crowning a hill with its dilapidated towers ; and; as it leaned against the horizon, it sbuck me as being like many •other things whidi we meet in lif^-— far more attractive as beheld from a distance, than when subjected to a closer scrutiny. We gazed long and joyously on the glorious panorama, and then trudged forward. We descended the little eminence, and found ST. GBOBO. 11 ouTselveH in a sort of glade,-^he road passing through the middle of a carpet of rich sward,-^ OTor which trees of most umbrageous shape were scattered. On a green knoll to the left three crosses had been erected,-i«^e e£Gigies of our Lord between the two thieTes^-*-*and before the centre figure a peasant was kneeling. We did not disturb him in his devotions ; but lifted our hats, and passed on. By^^md-by, the out* lines of a fortified town became visible^ and we pushed towards it. It proved to be St. Georg» a place of little note» though like almost all the towns in Carpatiay surrounded by a wall, quite indefensible against the fire of ' artillery, but sufficiently strong to resist the attack of a body of predatory horsemen. I founds on inquiry, that such places enjoyed^ in former years, pecu- liar privileges, and that they had been conferred on them in consequence of the shelter which the towns afforded' to the peasants when driven from their homes by an inroad of the Turksi Moreover, it turned out that the dates of these rude walls and towers were in most cases the same. They had all been erected during the last and -most terrible outburst c^ the Moslems, when not Hungary alone^ but Austria likewise, was overrun; and feeble as to our eyes they now appeared, there were few of them which. 12 MODERN. in their day, had not done the state some service. We halted at St. Georg to rest, and ordered dinner. It was served up to us in a sort of cofTee-room, and though not dressed as Dr. Kit- chener would have recommended, to persons whose . appetites a nine miles' walk had sharp- ened, it proved exceedingly acceptable. The charge, too, struck us as something ludicrously moderate ; it amounted, inclusive of a flask of excellent veihe, to sixteen pence halfpenny of our money. This settled, and the thousand and one questions put by our curious host having been, either answered or evaded, we resumed our march, and at five in the afternoon reached Modem. Like St Georg, it likevrise had its walls and towers, veithin which a half-troop of cuirassiers found quarters. We made for tlie best inn in the place, — ^were stared at, as we expected to be, by the landlord,— overcame his scruples by the good humour with which we sustained the scrutiny, and took possession of our billet. The room iato which we were ushered opened at once into the inn-yard, and as it affords a fair specimen of the sort of accommodation which an Hungarian hotel of the better order supplies, it is right that I should describe it. ACCOMMODATION AT THE IN^K. 13 An exceedingly comfortless billet, it proved, of course. It contained two truckle beds, a table, some chairs, and a broken mirror. The roof was arched ; and the only light admitted, came through a small window at one of the extremities, in front of which strong iron bars were fastened. There were two doors, only one of which had a bolt on the inside ; and the floor seemed but little acquainted with mop or pail. Such an apartment, when exhibited as the best which a cabaret of no mean exterior could furnish, held out slender promise of luxu- rious quarters elsewhere ; yet we had made up OUT minds to cast fastidiousness in such matters aside, and we did not think it worth while to anticipate evil. On the contrary, as our host — his first suspicion over — ^had become both civil and kind, we applied ourselves diligently to the task of dressing, imd gave orders that supper should be prepared against the seasonable hour of eight. This done, and our toilets completed, we strolled out; and after tajcing a hasty sur- vey of the streets, passed through one of the gates, and made for a vine-clad hill which immediately overlooked it. Our stroll, for I cannot speak of it as more; '.proved to be extremely agreeable. The heat of the day was past, and though somewhat 14 BABfBLS IN jaded with our march, we were still capable of enjoying the delicious breeze, as it shook the leaves of the graceful plants, amid which we found both shelter and refreshment. Though the fruit was not ripe, it jret hung in heayy bunches from the vines, which are here trimmed and trained with exceeding skill, being brought to a state intermediate, as it were, be« tween the low bush-like forms of those in the south of IVance, and the festoons and spiry pillars which you ^ee > in Spain and Italy* Through long alleys of such, we accordingly wandered on, making several vain efforts to communicate with certain peasants whom we found engaged in tying up the summer shoots^ till having reached the summit of the acclivity, we there lay down, that we might look abroad upon the landscape beneath us. I cannot un^ dertake to describe it. There was nothing g£ grandeur about it ; no . evidence of surpassing wealth; nor any. traces of skill or ingenuity anywhere; but something so entnrely different from all which I had seen elsewhere^ that it produced a powerful effect upon me. / We looked down into the main street of the town, which seemed as if the plague had recently swept over it; for scarcely a living creature was astir. Beyond that a huge plain greeted us, THE ENYIBON&L 16 WETing far and wide with com. But thera were no hamlets scattered over it, no detached jGBurm-houseSy no cottages, nor any other trace of. the hands by which that vast field must have been cultivated, and would by-and»by be cAiom of its glory. All this, though in due time explained, struck us at the moment as involving inconsistencies through which it would be impossible to make our way; so having per* mitted both vision and £uicy to exercise them- selves till th^y grew weary with the task, we gathered ourselves .up .from our grassy couch^ and returned to the inn. One of the first inquiries put to us on out anrival in Modem, had been, ** Whence come you ?— of what land are you the natives ?^ We told the truth, of ciouirse; and now our host met us, vnth the intelligence that there was another Englishman in the town,— -a cadet, in the regiment of which I have already spoken^ as having a half-troop in quarters there. Our obvious rejoinder was, ^ Qo and find him out, and tell him that we shall be very glad if he will do us the favour to join us at supper.** Our host went, and in quarter of an hour there entered our apartment a young gentleman, who appeared less surprised than gratified to find himself once more in the society of his coun- 16 A CAVALRY CADET. trymen. His name was Barrington, he had served several years in the Austrian cavalry, and though in daily expectation of a commis- sion, still did duty as a cadet. We became excellent fnends in a moment; and hearing him speak of two other cadets, — one an Italian, the other a German from the Rhine, — as his messmates and friends, we begged that they too might be sent for, and they came. It is not. worth while to repeat even the substance gf the conversation that passed among us. It turned chiefly, as may be supposed, on military matters, in which all seemed to be enthusiasts ; and eras kept up with great spirit till midnight. Then, however, as they found that I could not be . persuaded to delay another day, but must start at an early hour, on the morrow, they rose and bade us farewell. Mr. Barrington, indeed, promised us an escort, — a favour which we willingly accepted, because our route lay over a tract of country where, on the map at least, no roads were marked; but with the other two, we shook hands, probably for the last time. I need sc^cely add, that the five hours' sleep which we obtained were very sound, and very refreshing. ir CHAPTER II. WALK TO TTRNAU. — ^LOSE OUB WAY.— OVERTAKEN BT A HUNGARIAN GENTLEMAN. — MR. SCULTATl's HOUSE.— HUNGARIAN HOSPITALITT. The day had dawned some time when we awoke from our deep slumber, and seven o'clock struck ere our coffee was swallowed, our bill paid, and ourselves en route. Meanwhile, Mr. Barrington was not forgetful of his engagement. He ar- rived just as W(0 were beginning to apprehend that some call of duty might deprive us of the pleasure of his company, and we set forth, all three together, on foot. It struck me that the tone of our companion's conversation was more subdued to-day than it had been over-night; and that the idea of losing us so speedily caused him to reflect with something like regret upon the isolated nature of his own position. I do not know that I have any right so to express myself, for he certainly uttered no complaint ; but I felt at the moment, that the situation of an Englishman in a foreign service is scarcely an enviable one ; and I iancied that my young friend's thoughts were turned into a similar channel. Be this, however, as it may, we did 18 WALK TO not separate till after he had walked some long miles beside us, and more than once expressed a wish that it had been in his power to become our companion throughout the whole of our excursion. Poor fellow! I almost regretted, for his own sake, that such an arrangement was impossible. Our point to-day was Kosztolan» a village some six or. eight leagues in advance of Mo- dem^ where repqrt said, that there was an inn; not, indeed, qo large or so comfortable as that which we , had just quitted, but suffici« ently capacious to accommodate, &>t a single nighty ttevellers so little disposed to fall out with trifles as ourselves. In order to reach it we were directed to. make, in the first instance, for Tyrnau ; and to gain Tymau, it was neces- sary to steer a good deal by the map ; for even in this part of Hungary, so soon as you abandon the great roads, you are entirely at the mercy of your own genius for exploring. Of this, to us an important truths we were indeed made fully aware, when having reached a sort of hamlet in the centre of an immense plain, we found all traces of a path disappear. We looked round in every direction, but there was no olgect to direct us. Behind, indeed, were the Carpatians, assuming, at each mile which TTRNAU. 10 we compassed in our joumejr, a bolder and mora majestic character, still clothed to their brows with luxuriant wood, and having their bases ooTered by traces of cultivation.; but elsewhero on the right, on the left^ and in front, the nature of the country was everywhere the same. One enormous flat was before us, here and thera dotted, rather than enriched, with trees ; but» except where these tiny groves intervened, dther waving with com, or giving support to a rank natural pasturage. «.Qf anything like a town, or a village, or even a solitary dwellings not a trace was discernible. It yms a hi^ ocean of herbage^ broken in upon,, where its sameness was disturbed at all, only by patches of &llow. We drew forth our chart, and studied it attentively, for the huge plain appeared de« sorted of human beings ; and had the case been otherwise, we wera well aware that between them and us little oral communication could pass. At the inns, we could always count on finding somebody by whom German was both spoken and understood; but among the pea* sants, no way was to be made, except by him who might be master of the Slavonian. The result was, a determination to push forward, pretty much at random. On, accordingly, we went, — ^the same, and still the same strange^ 20 A HUNGARUN novel, but certainly not wild country, around us, — till arriving at a sort of dip which in the extent of the prospect had previously escaped observation, we found to our surprise that the dwellings of men were not, after all, so distant as we had supposed. There lay in the hollow beneath, a village, built with more appearance of regularity, and regard to convenience, than 9.ny which, since our departure from Presburg, we .had encountered. It was thoroughly ori- ental in its character, to be sure ; the houses being mere huts, and each standing apart one from the other; but the whole were arranged in two long lines, so as to form a street, wide, open, and very airy. A double row of trees screened the fronts of these dwellings, which, on nearer inspection, proved to be loaded with fruit ; and when we put forth our hands to pluck a portion of it, no one thought of finding fault with us. : The village, as seen from a distance, had excited our liveliest admiration. Its appear- ance was altogether that of some cluster of feiry buildings, — so bright shone the walls, under the rays of a mid-day sun, so picturesque were the spiral roofs, so graceful the lean of the branches over their thatched coverings. I cannot say that it ceased to interest, even when VILLAGE. 21 we approached it. We saw, indeed, that what- ever of cleanliness belonged to it, appertained only to the exterior of things ; for the open doors made a sad disclosure of filth and squalor within. The women and children, too, who lounged about the sills, were dirty and half naked, while throughout there was an air of languor and listlessnes, such as bespoke a state of social existence, very little raised above barr barism. Yet, either because it differed essen- tially from everything of the sort which had heretofore come under our observation, or that objects which present themselves unawares to our notice, act with proportionate power upon the fancy, we did not traverse its long and broad street without making repeated halts, and expressing one to the other a lively sense of admiration. The remainder of our walk as far as Tymau was not rendered memorable by the occurrence of any adventure worth re- cording. Our route continued to lie across a plain of amazing extent and inexhaustible fer- tility, with the hills on our left, and the horizon bounding the view in other directions. But I cannot recollect that except once, — when a solitary wayfarer passed us, — so much as a labourer crossed our path throughout the whole 22 TYRNAU. of its duration. So scant and fiir separated is the population of this country, to which nature, in respect both of soil and climate, has been so bountiful. At last, however, about two o'clock, that is to saj, after we had been more than six hours on the march, the spires of Tymau uprose in the distance. We made for them, not ill- pleased at the prospect of a halt ; and in the midst of a furious shower,— the outpourings of a dense cloud which for some tinie preyiously had been gathering over our heads, — we entered the Green Tree,— a little inn in the suburbs, — and ordered dinner. We did not conceive that it was at all in- cumbent upon us, to traverse the streets of Tjmau, under such rain as then was falling. The town appeared to belong to the same class with Modem ; for it was evidently of no great extent, and was girdled in by walls and round towers, and other relics of skill in a species of fortification which has long since passed away. Perhaps, too, the symptoms of vitality about it, might be more numerous than those which greeted us at our previous stage; for there were several large buildings in the place, one of which was described to us as a very wealthy monastery; but it was evidently, like Modern, START FOB KOSZTOLAN. 23 a town falling to decay; and hence little likely to repay the toil of a minute examination. Besides, we could not afford a wetting, because our whole stock of wearing i^parel comprised but a single change of habiliments. Accord- ingly, haying made good use of the water with which our landlady supplied us, and otherwise done the duties of the toilet, we sat down at one of the tables in the public room till our meal should be ready. It made its appearance at length, and v^eia disposed of with all the zeal 6f which a large share of air and exercise is the neyer-failing source. And then catne the questions, where lay our station for the night, and by following what route might we hope to reach it ? Both were answered to our satisfac- tion ; so having loitered on till the storm passed away, we once more buckled up our knapsacks, and taking leave of our civil landlady, pushed on towards Kosztolan. The fates had decreed that by us Kosztolan should never be visited. After walking in the direction pointed out, and compassing what we believed to be at least half the space be« tween us and our night's quarters, we were met by three men, whose features sufficiently testified to their Jewish origin ; and of whom we demanded, in German, whether we were in 24 LOSE OUR WAY. the right way. To our extreme mortification they assured us, that we were not. The road from Tymau to Kosztolan ran in quite a diffe- rent direction; so different, indeed, that in order to reach it, we must needs retrace our steps to the very outskirts of the town which we had quitted. Now when it is borne in mind that our march had already extended to something like twenty miles, — that the day was wearing on, — and the fields deep and heavy with the late rain, it will scarcely be wondered at if such an announcement should have affected us the reverse of agreeably. We questioned our informants closely, — ^tried all possible methods of cheating them into a statement that the footpath and the great road would terminate at the same point, and yielded at last only from a feeling that to yield was indispensable. A retrograde movement is seldom an agree- able one. Even when the party of pleasure is over, and we are returning to our own homes, objects appear to have become fiar less interest- ing than they used to be ; and if this be the case under ordinary circumstances, much more perceptible is the feeling in such a case as ours. The very miles appeared to lengthen as we went. But we reached the suburbs of Tyrnau at last, and making for the great road, which RETURN TO TYRNAU. 25 we had previously been advised to shun, — vre began to traverse it at a rapid i*ate. Neither was this acceleration of pace unnecessary, inas- much as the shades of evening threatened to close round us, and the church tower, which was pointed out as that of Kosztolan, lay far removed from us. By-and-by we gained a sort of hamlet, — a collection of wretched mud huts, thrown at random, as it were, by the wayside ; and, finding there that four roads met, we became entirely puzzled. To address ourselves to any of the wild-looking people who stood at the doors of their huts, and gazed upon us with countenances in which surprise was strongly depicted, appeared useless. We knew not one word of their language, nor they one word of ours; but the name of the village, we ima- gined, would probably be familiar to them, so we pronounced it, and made such signs as we flattered ourselves might be understood. We were not mistaken. An old woman, poking her head through an opening in the wall of one of the huts, screamed out something which would have been quite unintelligible, had she not, at the same time, pointed towards a lane on our left, and nodded, when we made a move- ment as if to follow it. Thus reassured, wo recalled our lagging energies, and pushed on. VOL. III. c 26 OVERTAKEN BY A We had not proceeded far, when there met us an open carriage, in which two gentlemen were seated, — one elderly, with a pair of huge moustachios and a very soldier-like air; the other young, apparently not more than two or three-and-twenty, and of a singularly prepos- sessing appearance. He wore a round blue cloth jacket, embroidered with black lace, white trousers, very loose, and a cloth cap, with a gold tassel ; and he held the reins with exceeding skill and elegance. They bowed to us as we passed, and we returned their salutation without ever supposing that more would come of it; but we were mistaken. We might have gone forward, perhaps, a couple of hundred yards, when the step of some one in chase fell upon our ears, and we heard a man's voice calling to us. We stopped, turned round, and saw the younger of the two gentlemen hurrying to- wards us. ** I see that you are strangers," said he, in French, **I have been a traveller on foot myself. May I take the liberty of asking whence you came, and whither you are going ?" We told him, without hesitation, that we had quitted Modern that morning ; and that it was our intention to sleep at Kosztolan. " But," continued I, "it seems to me either that we HUNGABIAN GENTLEMAN. 2? have not been directed aright, or tlwtt Kosztolau is much farther from Tymau than we were led to believe.^ " It is a great deal too far for you to reach, with any comfort to yourselves, to-night," said the stranger ; " and if you did reach it, yotf would find there no adequate accommodation. My house is close by, and I shall take it as a particular favour if you will iur^ back with me and be my guests, at all events till to-morrow.** We were too much struck by the unaffected kindness with which this invitation was given, and too well pleased with the opportunity which it seemed to afford of becoming acquainted with the domestic habits of the Hungarian gentry, to be very persevering in the refusal with which, for appearance's sake, we considered ourselves bound, in the first instance, to meet it. But had the contrary been the case, I am sure that our resistance would have been overcome. The young gentleman scouted the idea of our being to him a source of the slightest inconvenience. ^ My house is not very large," said he, " but there is room enough in it for more than two guests. You will find my mother and sister there, both of whom generally live with me; and ttiy uncle likewise, whom you saw besides me, and who, fo* the present. Has given us thd c 2 28 INVITED TO pleasure of his company. We will, therefore, go back to the village, if you please, where the carriage awaits us ; and I can only assure you, that the longer you may find it convenient to honour my roof by abiding under it, the better pleased I shall be." All this passed, — the invitation was given, was pressed upon us, and accepted, without one question having been put, either as to our country, our condition, our lineage, or the nature of the inducement which had led us to travel in Hungary at all. It was not, indeed, till the servant had been displaced to make room for us, and we were seated, I beside our youthful driver, and my son near his uncle, that the slightest anxiety to be satisfied on these heads wai3 expressed. Then, indeed, the ^Ider of the two strangers ventured to demand whether we were French ? and when we told him, no, that we were English, it seemed to me that the cordiality of both gathered an increase. It soon came out, that they were great admirers of the English constitution and English charac- ter. Of the former, indeed, they spoke as bearing a striking resemblance to their own,— a mistake, as I have elsewhere explained, into which almost all their countrymen run ; and the latter they were so well-bred as to contrast HIS HOUSE. 29 very fiivourably with what it pleased them to describe as the insincerity and fanfarorinade of our neighbours. Moreover it came out that the younger of the two, in a pedestrian tour which he made through Switzerland, had fallen in with certain Englishmen, between whom and himself a good deal of intimacy arose ; and that a favourite dream in which he had ever since delighted to indulge, included the possible chance of his one day visiting England itself. Where such a kindly feeling prevailed on one side, and on the other the sense of obligation was strong, there occurred no difficulty what- ever in effecting a right understanding between the parties. We became very animated in our talk as we proceeded onwards; and when we reached our destination, every feeling of re- straint had been laid aside. The gentleman whose guests we had thus unexpectedly become, belonged to that class in Hungarian society which corresponds, in re- spect to rank, with our untitled aristocracy, — the proprietors of estates which have descended to them through many generations. He inhabited a country-house, which, in point of size and the general aspect of things in and around it, I can compare to nothing so aptly as to the dwelling of a Highland laird. It was a long-fronted, two- 80 DWELLING OP AN storied white-walled chateau, having before it H sort of court, or grass-plat ; round which ran A gravelled drive, that was fenced off from the road only by a hedge and paling. At the bottom of this court, again, and at right angles with the swing gate by which we entered, stood a range of cottages, where dwelt the grooms, find menials, and hangers-on upon the family; while just across the road were stables, coach- houses, sheds, barns, and a garden, well stocked with fruit and vegetables. Of park, or pad- dock, or grounds purely ornamental, there was, however, no trace. Except where the green court lay (and it was not wholly ornamental, inasmuch as the draw-well stood exactly in the centre of it,) every rood of land had been laid under the plough. Up to the very walls of the mansion, the corn crops were growing ; and in the hamlet where we and our host first met, the labourers or serfs by whom they were reared, .resided. It was not, however, in the outward appear- ance of things alojie, that I traced a close resemblance between the domicile of this Hunr garian gentleman and that of the Highland laird, —rather, perhaps, as he was half a century ago, than as you now find him, except in rare cases. The femily of Mr. Scultati (for so my young HUNGARIAN GENTLEMAN. 81 friend was called,) appeared of countless extent* There was no end to the retainers, — ^men, wo- men, and children, — ^who went to and fro beside his hall-door, and thronged his kitchen. Eating and drinking, moreover, appeared to be a work which suffered small intermission; and the viands, though coarse, perhaps, were most abundant. Then, again, I saw one woman arrive with several couples of fowls, another with a basket of eggs, a third with a jar of milk, a fourth with something else; and 1 learned that such were not so much the spour taneous offerings of a good will, as the feudal perquisites, which the chief claimed, and the cottar and small tenant paid. ^^ It is thus," said my kind host, " and thus only, that the hospi- talities of such a household as nune could be kept up. These things are brought to me every day. What could I do with them, if I did not feed the people whom you consider so numerous ?" I have ventured to describe these matters in detail, because they belong essentially to what may be called the manners of the country, and because I am quite sure that in finding such peculiarities brought forward by a stranger, no man's individual feelings can suffer wrong. It must not be expected that I shall use the 32 HUNGARIAN same freedom when speaking of the domestic habits of those who were good enough to admit me into their families. With respect to Mr. Scultati's menage, for example, I shall have done enough when I state, that it was in every respect gentlemanlike and abundant, — that a comfortable apartment was allotted to us, — that we met the ladies first in the drawing-room, and afterwards at supper, — and that the great desire of all appeared to be, that we should feel our- selves at home. Music, too, added its charms to the pleasures of the evening ; for Madame Scultati played well on the piano ; and she was kind enough for our edification, to draw forth some of the wild strains of her native land, to which the younger members of the party danced. Finally, we were not permitted to l^etire till after repeated attempts had been made to shake our determination of departing on the morrow. But in this respect we were obstinate. It was agreed, indeed, that we should not go as we had originally proposed to do, at day-break, because Freystadtl was well worth seeing, and thither they would send us in their carriage ; but as they saw that we were not willing to be delayed longer, they with perfect good breeding ceased to urge us. We then retired to our chamber, and slept soundly. HOSPITALITY. 83 We were up next morning about six, though not till our young host, whose chamber lay within ours, had himself been some time astir. I know not whence it arose, but I had conceived that the Hungarian method of breakfasting would resemble our own, mther than that of Germany. When, therefore, our friend stood by the bed-side to inquire what could be done by him or his people to increase our comforts, I unconsciously said something about the break- fast hour, which caused him to smile. " Oh ! I recollect," said he ; " you English* men eat that meal together, and it is with you a substantial one. I am afraid we should never get my mother to understand the former of these arrangements, but in the latter it is very easy to indulge you." And before I could stop him, orders were given, to add to our coffee and bread, both meat and butter. Now, this mark of attention, if considered by itself, may appear a trifle ; when taken in connexion with other matters, it is more than a trifle. It shows that in all the essentials of good breeding, a Hun- garian gentleman falls not short of any member of his class throughout Europe ; for I am bound to add, that as far as my own experience goes, Mr. Scultati is but a fair specimen of the order to which he belongs. c 3 84 OUTHOUSES AND We made a hearty meal on the viands that were provided for us ; and the ladies being still in their own apartments, we put ourselves under the guidance of our host, and walked out. He conducted us to the garden, in all the arrange* ments of which, I found more and more to remind me of what I have read in old books, as characterizing similar establishments amid the glens of my native country- The walks, for example, overrun with long grass, could not be approached at this early hour except at the expense of wet feet. Everything, too, which a garden can produce, was abundant, even to the weeds ; but I looked in vain for the neatness ftnd order which distinguish those of our own country-gentlemen, as that class now exists even in the Scottish Highlands. In like manner, the stables, though perfectly weather-proof, were certainly not such as I had expected to find attached to the house of a Hungarian cavalier. For the Hungarian still retains this striking mark of his oriental origin, that he is passion- ately attached to his stud; and that there is no -degree of economy which he will scruple to practise, so long as he can appear, on fitting pccasiongi, Well mounted and accoutred. Now though Mr. Scultati's horses were good, — ^and they stood there, six in number, each occupying STABLES. 85 its own stall ; — the stable, and the yard before it, were precisely such as to render it next to impossible for the grooms to lead them forth to their work unsoiled, both in coat and pastern. The yard was ankle-deep in mud, and the stable differed from the bullock-shed to which it adjoined, only in this, that whereas the one had no breaks or divisions in its extent, the other was portioned off into stalls. I have alluded elsewhere to the act of 1835, which gave, or seemed to give, to the peasants of Hungary, in the protection which it afforded them against the caprices of their superiors, something like political rights. I have dis- cussed the effects of that enactment with many gentlemen in Mr. Scultati's station, and I never yet met with one who did not speak of it as eminently mischievous. Perhaps this is no more than we have a right to expect. Men, even though disinclined to abuse power, are seldom willing to part with it; and when it is taken from them against their will, they almost always anticipate results a thousand-fold more serious than usually follow. I have been told, for example, that one consequence of the law of 1835 has been, to sow the seeds of never-ending jealousy between the gentry and the peasants. " It is quite impossible that we 36 DISCONTENT OF THE can stop where we are," is the sort of language ±0 which I have listened scores of times, :** We have given these people certain privileges. We have delivered them from the rule of their natural superiors, that is to say, we have taken away from their superiors the power of punish- ment when it has been merited. Yet in all essential respects, they continue to be exactly what they were within the memory of man. On my own lands, for example, I am all but supreme. Nobody can open an inn without my license. Nobody can bring within the Jimits of my territory a flask of wine, or any other article not raised or manufactured there, till I have sanctioned it. If I am reduced to the dire necessity of selling my estate, my people go with it, and any one of these pre- suming to quit the demesne, except with the sanction of the owner, is guilty of a crime. But I may not now check the progress of any irregularities among them, except by the slow process of an appeal to a regular magistrate. Do you think this is possible ? Do you suppose that the nobles either can or will obey an edict in itself so preposterous? We do not obey it. We do punish in the face of the law, and some of our people know, while they submit, that we are acting illegally. Can this continue? HUNGARIAN LANDHOLDERS. 37 Surely not. Depend upon it, that Hungary is on the eve of great changes, and what the con- sequences may be, time only can determine." As often as this language has been held to me, I have smiled, — not because I think that there is nothing in it, but because it bears so close a resemblance to the predictions which, a few years ago, were everywhere heard in our own country, and of which not one has been, or is, I trust, likely to be, fulfilled, that while listening to it in a foreign tongue, and standing on a foreign soil, I had some difficulty in persuading myself that T was not in a dream. Whether the results are to be the same in Hungary as in England, I cannot pretend to guess ; for where all men anticipate evil, evil generally comes. But it will, I think, be the fault of the Hun- garians themselves, if any violent revolution overtake them. They must go on in the work of amelioration, slowly to be sure, but steadily. Of the evils of the present system, there are few among them who seem not to be aware ; they must meet these evils boldly, and their very boldness will save them. Meanwhile, it is cer- tain that the feeling of insecurity, the dread of some mighty crisis at hand, is universal. When I took leave of my kind host, for examjjle, we exchanged cards ; that is to say, he wrote his 38 ANTICIPATIONS OF EVIL. name — Coloman Scultati — on a slip of paper, and gave it to me. "What title shall I prefix," said I; "is it Graff, or Baron, or what ?" " Oh no," was the answer ; " plain Monsieur. I am as yet a poor Hungarian eidelman ; what I may be a few years hence, heaven alone can tell." 89 CHAPTER III. FRBTSTADTL.— THE GR^FINN BRDEDI.— -WALK TO PISCH- TIAN.— THE STATE OP SOCIETY.— NBUSTADTL.— THE FORSTBAN. It was about eleven o'clock when Mr, Scultati's carriage drove up to the door, and in spite of our avowed preference for walking, we were obliged to take our seats in it. "You must visit Freystadtl, let come what will," said our host ; ^ and as it lies out of the direct road to Pischtian, my conscience will not permit me to consent to your visiting it on foot. Besides, you came here out of your way, to oblige me ; and I am bound at all events to set you right again." There was no resisting such arguments, so we jumped in, and the vehicle set forward. A considerable portion of our morning's drive carried us through Mr. Scultati's territory. It was everywhere in the highest state of cultiva- tion, and the crops were enormous ; but, as the owner had justly observed, while alluding to the fertility of the soil overnight, of what value can such crops be to him? There are no markets in Hungary itself, to which the grain 4 40 THE HUNGARIAN can be sent; and the restrictions imposed by the government on foreign exportation are terrible. And were the case otherwise, till the roads are improved, and the navigation of the Danube rendered much more commodious than it is at present, all this exuberance of bounty on nature's part, must be next to wasted. For, except by way of Fiunie, — a Croatian rather than a Hungarian port, — there is no other com-^ inunication between Hungary and the sea, than through that great river, of which the channel is still encumbered with numerous shoals, and the debouches, as I need hardly state, are in the power of the masters of Constantinople. The consequence is, that while their corn and wine accumulate perpetually, and their flocks increase, and their wool is abundant, the Hun- garian landowners everywhere complain that they are poor. On the other hand, the Hun- garian landowners not only want for nothing, but they possess all the necessaries, and many of the luxuries of life in profusion. They have meat of every sort, bread excellent, wine supe- rior to any which I have tasted either in France or elsewhere. Fruit is so abundant that it often rots upon the trees ; and milk and butter, and all else which the farm can produce, are in excess. Still they have no money; and without LANDOWNERS. 41 money, though they may live sumptuously at home, they can neither stir beyond the limits of their respective provinces, nor even within these limits enjoy the pleasures of social life as they are enjoyed elsewhere. Such, at least, is the tone of their own conversation, as often as it happens to turn upon the condition of their country, and there is no disputing the point with them. But though they may lack the means of indulging it, there surely never lived a race of persons more strongly imbued with a taste for expense. I shall have occasion to speak of them by-and-by, as they show them- selves crowded together; and it will then be seen, that their poverty, if it press at all, is carefully concealed from the gaze of the world. Fryestadtl is an open town, very prettily, situated on the left bank of the Waag, and surmounted by the chateau and magnificent grounds of the Grafinn or Countess Erdedi. We crossed the river by a long wooden bridge, at either extremity of which is a toll-house; but as we came in an eidelman's carriage, no demand for toll Avas made ; that being exacted, as I have elsewhere explained, from the peasants only. This done, we turned sharp to the right, and entering the grafinn's domain by a side gate, took a hasty survey of its beauties. They 42 THE COUNTESS EBDEDI. were exceedingly striking. The house, — a modern building, — stands on the slope of a hill, the summit of which is crowned by the ruins of an old castle, and the grounds about it re- minded me more of an English park than any which I had seen since my arrival at Hamburg. Of the town, again, I can say but little. It was very quiet, very neat, and of very moderate extent, depending for its existence on the will of the lords of the chateau, to whom, both in its edifices and in the persons of its inhabitants, it belongs. The Countess Erdedi lives in great splen- dour, and is said to be enormously rich ; but she is not much countenanced, except by the male portion of the community. The daughter of a hackney-coachman in Vienna, she went, when very young, upon the stage, where her extreme beauty, rather than any great merit as a performer, obtained for her a certain degree of celebrity. She resided for some years with the Count as his mistress, and in his old age he married her. Moreover he bequeathed to her, at his death, the whole of his possessions, in- cluding the castle and estate of Freystadtl; subject, however, to one condition, — ^for if she marry again, everything goes from her. But the grafinn, as she was never very scrupulous FREYSTADTL. 43 when poor, so she seems to have no idea that scruples are at all necessary to her when rich. She has not married, but she has taken into her fieimily an Austrian colonel, with whom she lives on the most intimate terms, and who manages all her affairs for her, exactly a^if he were her husband. I had been told that we needed but to show ourselves at the castle-gate, in order to ensure an invitation for as long a period as it might be agreeable to reside there, — but I felt little disposition to avail myself of her hospitality. At the inn door, in the town, we dismissed our carriage, and once more resumed our progress, free men, and on foot. Our point to-day was Pischtian, one of the most fashionable watering-places in this part of Hungary; and as it lay on the opposite side of the Waag from Freystadtl, we recrossed the bridge. We had more leisure on this occasion to look about us than had been afforded earlier in the day. We saw that the Waag was a broad and rapid stream ; that his waters were whitish, — as if they had been mixed with milk ; that plantations of giant willows overhung his banks ; and that from an island, divided by a narrow channel from the lower part of the town, a sort of thin vapour or smoke was ascending. We inquired into the cause of this i 44 THE VALLEY « phenomenon, and found that the island in ques^^ tion contains a hot spring. No pains, however, have been taken to turn it to account, for hot springs are frequent in this country; and, for medicinal purposes, this is esteemed so inferior to the baths of Pischtian that it has not been judged worth while to lay out money upon it. But the countess has caused a sort of reservoir for the water to be dug ; and thither her own people resort as often as the humour takes them. We did not linger long to inspect an object in itself so little attractive ; but, turning to the right, found ourselves upon an excellent road, which, for a while, conducted us in a direction parallel with the river. It introduced us like- wise to scenery much more interesting than any which had as yet come under our observa- tion; and of which the features became, at every mile that we compassed in advance, more and more bold and striking. The great plain of Hungary was now left behind, and we were in the mouth of the valley of the Waag, — one of those passes by which, here and there, the Carpatian mountains are intersected. As yet, indeed, the valley was both wide and fer- tile. From range to range the expanse could not measure less than twelve or fifteen miles ; OF THE WAAG. 45 but the forms of the hills stood forth more dis- tinctly and in bolder outline than heretofore, and the farther we proceeded the more their alti- tude increased,^ Moreover there were seen, on almost every detached crag and cone, the ruins of some baronial pile, the records of a time, — not in this country long since passed away, — when each separate chief held his own petty court within the halls where his father had held it, and armed men did his bidding, sometimes against the supreme government itself. Then, again, the magnificent river rolled his waters along between banks that either waved with an incalculable weight of corn, or spread forth a rich green herbage, over which numerous flocks and herds were roaming; and, which was scarcely less interesting, the population appeared to be more dense here than we had as yet seen it. Towns and villages lay scattered over the strath, homesteads from time to time saluted us ; and the very bosom of the stream itself supported, here and there, a cluster of floating mills. I was beyond measure charmed with the combination of beauty and grandeur in the scenery with which our march to Pischtian made us acquainted ; and formed anticipations concerning the future, such as must have been, in almost any other quarter of the world, disappointed. i 46 PISCHTIAN* We did not reach Pischtian till a late hour, for a furious thunder-storm detained us; the effects of which, though exceedingly delightful to one sense, were not quite §o acceptable to another. The reverberations of the peals from the nearest range of hills, were very fine ; whereas the furious rain that attended them proved, in spite of cloaks and the shelter of a tree, much less agreeable. Thanks to Mr. Mack- intosh's skill, however, we escaped better than we had any right to expect ; and, so soon as the storm abated a little, the march was re- sumed. It continued till about seven in the evening ; when a soldier whom we met, and addressed in German, pointed out to us the object of which we were in quest, and we made at once towards it. I must acknowledge that its general appearance both surprised and dis- appointed me. Having learned from our kind entertainers of the previous night, that Pisch- tian was one of the most celebrated watering-- places in this part of Hungary, I naturally expected to find a growing and airy town, with shops, and marts, and the other accommodations which even the occasional presence of a crowd of fashionables elsewhere calls into being. In all this I had entirely miscalculated the chances. There were no shops, no marts, no airy PISCHTIAN. 47 and well-kept streets, but a parcel of huts, standing apart one from another, with their mud-walls carefully white-washed, and their conical roofs sheltered fi'om the weather by thatch. In the centre of the throng, however^ as if to cast its companions quite into the shade, uprose a large inn. It was built of brick, seemed to be three stories high, and covered a great extent of ground ; and this, in point of fact, was Pischtian. For thither all the company, of all*ages and both sexes, re- paired, to eat and drink daily in the Great Hall ; and here too, the more wealthy, or such as took the lead because of their rank, had their apart- ments. As for the rest, they hired, some an entire hut, others a portion of a hut, and so bestowed themselves pretty much as bees are bestowed in a hive, without the slightest regard to any other consideration than the securing as much space as would permit them to spread out their mattresses, and lie at length. Altogether the scene struck me as one of the most ludi- crously singular which I had anywhere wit- nessed, and a more intimate acquaintance with the details of life vrithin its influence, had not the effect of diminishing my astonishment. We entered the inn ; and, in spite of the extreme humility of our style of travel, were I 48 PISCHTIAN. received by mine host with great urbanity. He conducted us to an apartment ; not, perhaps, the most sumptuous in the house, but one with which, under all the circumstances, we had good reason to be content. - Then followed the cus- tomary Arrangements of the toilet, the comple- tion of which found us quite ready for dinner ; at the close of which, and it did not last long, we sallied forth to reconnoitre. I have described the general appearance of Pischtian as it strikes yoii when you first enter the place. It must not, however, be supposed, that there is no order in the arrangement of its details. On the contrary, the huts are built in two long streets, which cross one another about the middle ; and they all stand, like those of Hungarian villages in general, each at an inter- val of some yards from those on the right and left of it. The streets themselves not being either paved or macadamized, present, during a rain, but an unsatisfactory prospect to the pede- strian ; while, in dry weather, the dust rises on every breeze that sweeps over them, to the great detriment both of the eyes and lungs of such as encounter it. But there is more to be examined here than these very primitive tho- roughfares. Adjoining the inn, and under the management of the landlord, is a billiard-room. PISCHTIAN. 49 a ball-room, with several smaller apartments in which coffee and refreshments are served ; while in rear of the suite is a sort of public garden, the favourite resort of the company after sun- set. It was well filled when we entered it, and a body of musicians, who occupied a sort of bower in one corner, loaded the air with very sweet music. There are not many points of resemblance between the Hungarian and the German cha- racters ; but in this respect they do approach one another, — that the natives of both countries are passionately fond of the sort of life which people lead at watering-places. I think, in- deed, that in his fondness for this, the Hungarian goes beyond the German ; and I know that, to enable him to sustain the expense of a few weeks' sojourn in one of these temples of gaiety, he frequently hoards up, without repining, the whole of his pecuniary resources for months. When he does set out, moreover, on his expe- dition of pleasure, the Hungarian noble moves like a prince. It is not with him as with a votary of fashion from St. James's, who throws himself into his chariot, and is whirled off, as rapidly as post-horses can carry him, to Brighton^ or Lymington, or Cheltenham. The Hungarian carries with him his own carriages, his own VOL. III. i> &0 MODE OF UFE AT horses, his own servants, his own beds and bed- ding, aretinne of servants as numerous as his circumstances \dll allow, and a great variety of his most picturesque and becoming dresses. If, indeed, he have far to travel, he transports, in addition to all these, his own cooking utensils, and he invariably trusts, wherever he may halt by the way, to his own cook, for the preparation of his viands. Nor would it be fiair to set down all this business of prepara- tion to the score either of vanity or misplaced pride- The inns are, for the most part, so wretched in Hungary, that means of accom- modating a noble family are often wanting; and, wbere these chance to be sufficient, the filth is such that a lady cannot encounter it. Then, again, the watering-places being, like that at Pischtian, in nine cases out of ten, mere villages, it would be impossible for the company to lodge themsdres at all, were they forced to rely upon such conveniences as the peasant landlords could supply. For, strange as it may appear, it is neverthless true, that attempts to improve the stjde of the ordinary habitations in mch places, are very rarely made. The eidel^ aftan on whose property the bath may be, erects one htge inn, which he famishes according to Ube tastes Neither, indeed, do we apprehend mueh from the people. Contented they certainly are not for they still think that the act of 1835 set them free ; and the period is not very distant since a large portion of this country was under martial law. But all that is over now. Wheu a village becomes refractory, as it sometimes does, the lord has only to report the circum- stance at head-quarters, and down comes an order to station a troop, or half a troop of horse among the peasantry, who are compelled to supply them with every thing which they re- quire without receiving any compensation. It is astonishing how soon people return to their senses when fifty or sixty men and horses are turned loose on them to live at free quarters." " Why, then, are you so continually on the qtd vive f" " Because such are our instructions ; because if there occur a fire, or any other general calst- mity in the neighbourhood, we are expected to hasten to the assistance of the sufferers ; and MB. DE BUTTS. 91 because our vigilance is often put to the test by the arrival of sudden routes. It is no uncom- mon thing in our service that we are roused up at midnight, and marched o£^ bag and. baggage, merely to effect some change of station.*' " And is it always so with you ?' de^ manded I. " Always as you now see it," was the answer ; " except for two months in the autumn. Then the regiment, which is at present scattered in detachments through the villages, will concen- trate ; and after having practised for a while by itself, it will form brigade with another regi- ment, and we shall manoeuvre together. At other seasons, we shift for ourselves, each cap- tain, each lieutenant, and indeed each oflScer, having his division, more or less numerous according to his rank ; for the maintenance of discipline in which, as well as for its general eflSciency, he is responsible." A good deal more of such conversation passed between us, while Mr. De Butts was dressing; but I need not refer to it now, because a better opportunity will offer in the sequel. Rather let me state, that so soon as his toilet was com- pletedy we turned our attention to the aflSdr of breakfast ; and that it was prepared with all the despatch, and something of the rudeness, 92 EXCURSION TO which mark the progress of a similar meal in camp. Some coffee was put into a portable biggin ; a lamp, with burning spirits of wine, was placed under it, a few light cakes were dis- tributed, and our morning repast was before us. We discussed it in five minutes, and then sallied forth. Our friend now suggested that we should return to Predmir, where the head-quarters of his troop were, established, and dine there, at a nice clean little inn, with himself and his bro- ther officers. This done, it would be competent for us, should the weather permit, to visit the pass of SuUov, one of the most remarkable things of the kind throughout the whole valley of the Waag. We were, of course, at his dis- posal, and he sent accordingly for a forstban, by means of which we might reach our post, while he, and a young cadet, who did duty with his squad, performed their excursion on horseback. Again was the ferry crossed, and again were we taught how broad the line of distinction is be- tween gentle and simple in this free country. A body of peasants were charged toll for the transport of their wagons, while on us and our military escort, no demand was made. We did not, it is true, take any unfair advantage of the privilege, for it is customary among military PREDMIR. 93 men, and especially among the English officers in the Austrian service, to disregard it ; indeed they are favourites everywhere with the keepers of tolls and ferries, because they give them, in the shape of donations, much more than custom authorizes them to demand ; but the fact itself was forced upon our observation, as well as others which had no tendency to make us in love with the Hungarian institutions. A sharp word from a man in uniform makes a Hungarian peasant shrink into nothing. He cringes and fawns like the veriest slave before an angry master ; indeed, he seems incapable, such is the force of long and continued oppression, of being stirred out of the stupid indolence which is his natural disposition, except by the force of fear. We arrived at Predmir about noon, and pro- ceeded at once to the hotel. Though kept like that at Biese by a Jew, it really merited all the praise which Mr. De Butts had bestowed upon it; it was clean and tidy, and did honour to the domestic habits of the fair daughters of Jacob, who waited upon us, and ministered to our wants. Here we were joined by another lieutenant and another cadet, and at one o'clock our dinner was laid upon the table. It bor6 little resemblance, certainly, to the mess, even of a detachment in the English service. Yet 94 SOBRI, THE was it a good meal, notwithstanding, and the wine was excellent. But there is no sitting late in this country, at least after dinner ; so in an hour, or something less, the fragments were cleared away. Then followed the pipe, without which neither German nor Hungarian could exists and we were ready for our excursion. " You asked me a question respecting ban- ditti," said my companion, as we sat together on the rough hay couch which filled up the further extremity of the wagon. " Have you ever heard of our Hungarian Robin Hood, Sobri, with whose exploits all the empire rang not long ago ?" I answered in the affirmative, but added, as the truth required, that my acquaintance with the bandit's history was very vague. " Well, then, if you please, I will give you an outline of the tradition which passes current for fact all over the coimtry; and the tale will probably interest you the more, that it i^presents the man himself, as in some sort a brigand upon principle. There has never been a time when Hungary could be said to be free from banditti. The great extent of its plains, its enormous forests, and the scantiness of the population, all contribute to render conceal- ment easy; and so destitute are our peasants HUNGAMAN BANDIT. 96 of the means of subsistence througliout the slack season of the year, that they are often driven, as a resource against starvation, to plunder. Almost all the fellows whom you see keeping pigs and cattle on the commons, become robbers as soon as winter sets in, and even now, I don't think that it would be pru- dent in any person, not in uniform, to join him- self to their company. But that has nothing to do with my story. " Sobri, who acted his part upon the stage so recently as twelve months ago, was, as my authorities declare, by birth a peasant. His fether, however, who had contrived to accu- mulate some little property, was ambitious of rearing him to the ministry in the Reformed church ; and, after giving him as good a school education as circimistanoes would allow, ho sent him to Pesth fox the purpose of quali* fying him for ord^^. But the more Sobri studied, the deeper was the chagrin which he experienced while contemplating his own degraded state, and that of his family. It is wiiispered, that the noble under whom they lived was apt to stretch his power to the utmost But, however this may be, it is very certain that Sobri went to college a bitter enemy to the feudal institutions of his country. M 96 SOBBI, THE and that he soon began to inculcate his pecu- liar views upon the young men with whom he principally associated. "From the utterance of complaints, these young enthusiasts proceeded, by degrees, to concert schemes of reform. They must rege- nerate their country; and as it was vain to think of operating on the patriotism of the rich or the reasoning faculties of the poor, they must appeal to the fears of the former class and the gratitude of the latter. They would go forth, and fight the battle of equal rights against all who should resist them. And forth they went, not to lift the standard of revolt and to rally round it men imbued with the same spirit which animated themselves,— -for they knew that such were rare in Hungary, where the serf, hating his bondage, is yet incapable of making any serious eflfort to break the chain,—. but to earn a livelihood for themselves by the sword ; to rob the rich as often as an oppor- tunity offered, and to minister, out of the abun- dance which they might thus acquire, to the necessities of the poor. In any other quarter of civilized Europe, such a device must liav6 ended in the speedy destruction of the con- trivers. In Hungary it fully answered its purposes ; and its authors for some years prowled HUNGARIAN BANDIT. 97 about, at once the terror and the admiration of the districts through which they roved. " There is no end to the tales of Sobri's gal- lantry, Sobri's skill, Sobri's disinterestedness, and Sobri's humanity. The women all assert, that he was the handsomest man that ever was seen ; and his age was precisely what it ought always to be in a romantic brigand* When he first took the field, he was about two-and-twenty; when he died, for he fell at last, he had not completed his twenty-ninth year. His band, likewise, was trusty, and obedient, and devoted. It is represented as varying from about an hun- dred and fifty to fifty men ; and like the band of our own bold outlaw in Sherwood, it had the faculty of ubiquity. People heard of Sobri's followers having robbed some castle, or waylaid some rich traveller, near Pesth ; and next day some similar exploit was performed in the vici- nity of Presburg. But it is time to enter into detail. "There was no class of society which lay more open to Sobri's hostility than the Roman Catholic clergy. The dignitaries, be it observed, of the Romish church, in Hungary, are very rich ; and a rich churchman was a nuisance not, in the bandit's estimation, to be tolerated ; so he made upon them incessant war, and invari- VOL. III. F 98 SOBRI, THE ably with equal address and good fortune. As a specimen of his mode of levying contributions, take the following. There was a certain wealthy dean, resident not far from Graan, before the door of whose house there one day stopped a carriage, from which two gentlemen in military attire descended, that they might claim from him the rites of hospitality. One was a gene- ral, the other his aide-de-camp, and both were on their way to Vienna ; and as the inns on that road are very poor, they made no scruple about breaking in upon the good dean's domestic quiet. They were received, of course, with the utmost urbanity, sumptuously entertained at dinner, and urged to stay all night; but the calls of duty were urgent, and they must needs go. The dean's conversation, however, had so charmed the general, that he was very unwilling to lose it ; so he proposed, as there was ample room in the carriage, that the divine should take a seat there, and accompany him and his aide-de-camp as far as the dwelling of another priest, between whom and the dean a strict intimacy subsisted. Such a proposal was by far too flattering not to be at once acceded to. The dean placed himself beside the agreeable general, and the carriage drove off. "The country about Graan is, like other HUNGARIAN BANDIT. 99 districts, very thinly peopled* There was, therefore, no occasion to travel fer; indeed, at the first wood which they encountered, the carriage stopped ; and lo, the pretended general cast aside his disguise. Throwing open an outer garment, he exhibited a profusion of pis- tols and daggers about his person, and then coolly said, ' I am Sobri.' The dean trembled from head to foot, and entreated that he might be spared, on which the bandit laughed heartily, while he replied, ' I entertain no design what- ever against your life. If I had wished to kill you, I should have done so at your own table. But you are. wallowing in wealth, while crowds of better men are starving. You have probably nothing about you at present which it would be worth my while to accept ; but mark ! you must have ready for me against this day month, five thousand florins. See that you don't fail in this, for I shall certainly call for it ; and if it be not handed over to me, I will put you to death, aye, though all the members of the legis- lature should be beside you.' So saying, the bandit coolly desired the dean to alight, and when this was done, drove off. " Sobri's words rang in the poor dean's earsr day and night. Now he determined to disre- gard the injunction, and by extreme vigilance F 2 100 SOBRI, THE to defeat the designs of the threatener ; now he remembered the many instances in which the brigand had accomplished greater marvels, and his courage failed him. At last he resolved to adopt a middle course. His tenants were called upon to pay up their arrears, heavy fines were levied on defaulters, and a purse containing the stipulated number of florins was laid up in his escrutoire. At the same time, however, he was resolute to save his money if he could. With this view, he acquainted all his neighbours, both far and near, with the strange adventure that Tiad befallen him, and expressing his belief that 'Sobri would at least attempt to carry his threat into execution, he invited them all to pass the ^appointed day under his roof, where he made ^mple preparations to entertain them. They came true to the season fixed upon, and as each noble brought with him a retinue of armed ser- vants, the consumption of viands was prodi- gious. At length the guests sat down to din- ner, and the dean was already congratulated on liis escape from the violence which he had apprehended, when a carriage drove into the court-yard. It contained a venerable bishop ^with two of his chaplains, who being on their way to take possession of a diocese which had been some time vacant, could not, of course. HUNGARIAN BANDIT. 101 think of passing the dean's gate, without paying their respects. In an instant, the dean was at the door of the carriage. He would never recover the mortification, should his lordship refuse to honour his poor dwelling with his. presence, more especially on such a day as that> when all his neighbours were met together to do him honour. The bishop hesitated; but what could he do ? It would have been cruel to leave a brother churchman in sorrow; so, attended by his chaplains, he alighted, and the whole were ushered into the banqueting-room. " The prelate was led, as a matter of course, to the seat of honour ; and the feast went on,, not without many sharp cuts at Sobri's inso- lence, and sneers at his lack of power to act as- he had threatened. But the bishop could not stay beyond a certain hour. He had far to travel, and fearing lest he too might fall in with this Sobri, he was anxious to reach his stage ere daylight departed. Before he went, how- ever, he would communicate with the dean in private, and give him his blessing. The dean rose, the bishop's chaplains did the same ; and the whole four withdrew into a chamber apart^ The result need hardly be stated. ' You see I have kept my word,' said Sobri, opening hia 102 SOBRI, THE episcopal habit, and making a display of the weapons that were under it. ' Now give me the five thousand florins, or you are a dead man.' The dean looked round. On each side of him stood a chaplain, with a pistol in his hand, and he saw that his case was desperate. " ' So fiar, so good,' observed Sobri, as he put up the purse with its contents in his pocket ; *but now you must be our safeguard beyond the risk of pursuit. You shall apologize to your company for putting me a mile upon my way: and take care that you do so naturally; for if, either by accident or design, you lead them to suspect that I am not what I appear to be, you die on the instant.* The unhappy dean had some difiiculty in restraining the vio- lence of his terror; but the apparition of the two chaplains, — one before, and the other be- hind him, — as he paced through the hall, had an astonishing effect upon his nerves. He made his apology, walked with the bishop to his carriage, entered it in a state of mind which the imagination must describe, and was carried about a post from his house. There Sobri re- leased him ; and he returned to tell how faith- fully the brigand's pledges had been redeemed, and to impress those who listened to his story. HUNGARIAN BANDIT. 103 with a strong conviction that some power more irresistible than belongs to humanity had taken the bandit under its care. " Such was one tale, illustrative of the cool- ness and talent of that remarkable brigand. Another I may venture to give, as exhibiting both the sort of control which he was accus- tomed to exercise over his own people, and the degree of terror in which his name was held by the constituted authorities. ^^ It happened, once upon a time, that a trar- velling mechanic," — [one of that class of per- sons of whom I have elsewhere spoken, as tra- versing Germany with their wares, and who follow the same practice in Hungary,] — " was pounced upon while skirting a wood, and robbed of all his little property. The men who plun- dered him, took away likewise his pass-book, — in other words, the certificate as to character which he had received at the police-office, and without exhibiting which, duly viseed from his last station, he was liable, on entering any town, to be arrested and cast into prison. The loss of his goods affected him very much, but the loss of this document was even more serious. The first might be replaced, the last could not ; and he wept bitterly at the thought of the probable consequences to his person and his 104 SOBRI, THE liberty. He was thus mourning his evil fate, when a cavalier, well mounted and handsomely dressed, met him. What was the matter? why did he shed tears ? The poor fellow explained the nature of his misfortune, and the cavalier seemed affected by it. * Do you think that you should know the men who robbed you, if you were to see them again?' demanded the stranger. * I have no doubt of that fact,' was the reply. ' Will you, then, come back with me? We will try to discover them, and make them restore your propeirty.' The poor mechanic, who be- lieved that he had seen quite enough of such acquaintances, protested against the proposed plan, and entreated his generous champion to recollect the risks to which he would himself be exposed, * Oh, never you mind all that,' replied the cavalier, * that is my concern, not your's. Only come back with me, and I have no doubt we shall recover your effects.' "They turned back, accordingly, and the stranger having been informed of the exact spot where the robbery was perpetrated, stopped there, and whistled thrice. Two men came immediately from the thicket, whom the tra- veller recognised as his tormentors. *How could you,' cried the stranger, 'so far forget yourselves, as to rob a poor fellow like this ? HUNGARIAN BANDIT. 105 Are we become common thieves ? shall we take from them who more require that we should give?' He whistled again, and more people arrived, Avhom he commanded to seize and flog the perpetrators of the vile deed. This done, he caused them to disgorge their ill-gotten booty, and adding something considerable to ife from his own purse, he restored all, the pass- book included, to the mechanic. *Now go^ said he, addressing himself to the astonished traveller, 'go and tell wherever you arrive, how it is that Sobri deals with his men, when they forget what is due to his orders, and their own character.' "The astonished mechanic did not know^ what to make of the extraordinary adventures^ that had befallen him. He accepted Sobri's.. bounty, and repaired, with a glad heart, to the nearest town, where, in the exuberance of an ovei-flowing spirit, he spoke, in the coffee-room of the inn, concerning the occurrences of the day. The authorities heard of it, and he was commanded to appear before them. * You have seen Sobri?' w^as the substance of their ad-^ dress to him, ' and you will know him again I He is the terror of this neighbourhood. We- offer you a reward of an hundred ducats if you will direct our officers where to find him/ F 3 106 SOBRI, THE The poor fellow was taken all aback. One hundred ducats would have been a fortune to him, but then he could not bear the thought of betraying his benefactor, and he told the magi- strates that though he should certainly know the brigand again, he was entirely ignorant of his haunts. " ' That may or may not be,' answered they; * but we have certain information that he is at this moment prowling about the town or its outskirts, and if you refuse to assist us in ap- prehending him, we will commit you to prison as a participator in his crimes.' The magistrates in Hungary have a strange notion of law and justice, and these would have certainly kept their word; but the youth, who knew this, dissembled with them. ^ Well, then, as I must seek a home elsewhere, when this deed shall have been done,' said he, ' you must make the reward more than an hundred ducats.' They did not object to this, and promised him one hundred and fifty. "From the presence of the authorities the mechanic went forth, an alarmed and anxious man. Instead of wandering through the streets, he withdrew at once beyond the limits of the town, anf! was walking on, the reverse of joy- ously, when a person met him, whom he would HUNGARIAN BANDIT. 107 have passed. * What !' demanded the stranger, * don't you know me ? Have you already for- gotten the cavalier who recovered for you your property?' " * No,' replied the poor fellow, * I knew you the instant you appeared ;, but I was willing to make as if I knew you not, for there is a price on your head*' " ' I am aware of that,' ansAvered Sobri, 'and it is in order to obtain that price for you, that I am here. Go back immediately to the autho- rities ; tell them where you have seen me, and say that I am sure to be in the same place at the same hour to-morrow. You need not add, unless you please, that I shall come atteijded by fifty of my men. Whether they give you the reward or not, they will not venture to seek me. Come you, however, and I will show you, that Sobri knows as well how to reward good faith in a stranger, as how to punish bad faith among his own people.' "The mechanic did as he was desired, but no portion of the hundred and fifty ducats were handed over to him. It would be given to him only when the ruffian should be secured ; they could not throw away such a sum at a venture. No attempt was, however, made to establish his claim on their beneficence, for they 108 SOBRI, THE never ventured to court a meeting with the robber chief. But the mechanic met him, and received at his hands a purse containing a thou- sand florins." These are but two out of the many tales, which both now and at other stages in our wanderings, were told us of Sobri. He was described by all who spoke of him, as a bold, cool, and in some sort, a chivalrous man. Even when engaged in acts of violence, his urbanity of manner never forsook him, and he became in consequence, a prodigious favourite with the fair sex. To one lady, whose house he robbed in the absence of her husband, he returned all the silver spoons, because she begged only for the pap-spoon with which her infant was fed- On another occasion, a little girl wept because he had taken a gold watch which belonged to her godmother, and he restored it. But it was his policy, in sharing with the poor, the plunder which he collected from the rich, that obtained for him the unbounded love of the peasants. Not only could they never be persuaded, either by the promise of reward, or the threat of punishment, to betray him ; but he was regularly warned as often as danger approached, and furnished with every facility to evade it. Even now, it is uncertain what his HUNGARIAN BANDIT. 109 fate may have been. I believe, indeed, that he was killed in a skirmish, some time in the spring of 1837; when being overtaken by a detachment of lancers, he turned to bay : but this is by no means certain, inasmuch, as the sole evidence for the fact is, the statement of one of his followers, by whom a body was pointed out as his, after the affair had ended. Now if there existed for him, as the head of the band, the romantic attachment of which I heard so much, why should not this man have purposely deceived the troops, in order that pursuit might slacken, and the hunted chief escape ? But how- ever this may be, Sobri's horde has long been broken up. Here and there, parties of four or five are still heard of, as infesting the roadSj and roaming through the forests. But the nucleus of the force, which was in its own peculiar way to regenerate Hungary, has dis- appeared. 110 CHAPTER V. GLEN OP SULLOV. PROTESTANT POPULATION. — SILLEIN. FISH THE WAAQ. CASTLE OF BUDATIN. — MARCH UP THE YALE. — OVAR CASTLE. TORPINDA SETTLEMENT. It was our business after quitting Predmir, to visit the glen of Sullov ; and we accomplished it. The scene was wild throughout ; and at the farther extremity, almost terrific. When you first enter the defile, there is a considerable breadth of level country, which grows, however, at each step, more narrow ; till in the end, the rocks appear to close round you, and the road by which you have advanced, is all the space not rugged and broken that remains. By-and- by you find yourself walled in, as it were, by precipices ; and you turn anxiously to the pea- sant who has guided you, and demand whither you are about to be conducted : for there seems to be no outlet to the fissure. A bald, bare, perpendicular crag is before you, and there the very road appears to terminate. The guide is prepared for your question, and smiles while he conducts you round this granite buttress, and HUNGARIAN PROTESTANTS. Ill -shows you the same road sweeping into another vale, at once more extensive and better peopled. We were exceedingly delighted with the drive ; and turned our backs upon the romantic spot not without regret. There are a good many Protestants scattered through Hungary, and in these mountain dis- tricts they abound. The vale of Sullov, for example, is principally peopled by them, and their presence is marked, both there and else- where, by a more than common display of the traces of industry around them. It is said, too, that they are in general more moral than their Romish neighbours, and it is certain, that they :are better educated; indeed, education among the Catholic portion of the Hungarian peasantry is entirely neglected. But I am bound to add, that from the Catholics, though the dominant party in the state, the Protestants receive no annoyance. The most perfect liamiony, on the contrary, prevails; for no person considers it necessary to fall out with his neighbours because of differences in their creed ; and the very clergy of the rival churches, exercise all the rites of hospitality one towards another. As I shall have occasion to revert to this subject by-and- by, when it will fall in more naturally with the order of my journal, I must for the present 112 SILLEIN content myself with remarking, that the spirit of tolerance is more conspicuous among the Romanists, than among their rivals. I never heard a Catholic speak with a sneer of the faith of the Protestants — I never heard a Protestant speak otherwise than contemptu- ously of the ignorance and superstition of his Catholic neighbour. From the vale of Sullov we passed to Sillein, about ten miles nearer than Beise to the source of the Waag, and twice as much in advance of Predmir. Mr. De Butts was still our com- panion ; and the quarters which he found for us, though not much to be commended on the score of cleanliness, were as comfortable as the place could afford ; for it would be hard to imagine a picture of more perfect desolation than this miserable town presented. Like others which we had passed, it had walls and gates; the former in ruins, the latter torn from their hinges ; while the streets and square offered no inappropriate representation of a place over which the tide of war has recently swept. The very houses were many of them crumbling to decay. On the other hand, the situation was magnificent. The nearer we approached to the frontier of Galicia, the bolder and more majestic grew the mountains, while the valley, though it had not for some time THE WAAG. 113 narrowed in any perceptible degree, was mani- festly drawing to a close. And then the Waag ; —he was a fine river when we first made his acquaintance ; broad, yet not sluggish, and dis- coloured in his waters, only because of the deposit which came to him from the fertile lands through which he flowed* But now his character was that of a highland stream of the most majestic class. Without having lost any thing of his width, he swept past Sillein, over a bed of gravel ; brawling and noisy as the ear of the poet could desire, with just such pools and streams and rapids, as the angler loves to see, and the best and largest fish delight to' frequent. We slept well, after an indifferent supper ; and starting betimes on the morrow, took counsel with our countryman as to the route which it might be judicious to follow, and the objects which it especially behoved us to visit. From a variety of sources, and by many different means, we had gathered, as we came along, that our passport not being so expressed as to sanction the proposed visit to Cracow, there was slender probability of our being able to reach that point. For the citizens of Cracow had exhibited symp- toms of uneasiness of late, and there were three foreign armies, a Russian, a Prussian, and an 114 ABANDON OUB DESIGN Austrian, gathered round the place, with a view to preserve tranquillity. Now as it forms part of the tranquillizing system on which the great powers uniformly act, that a city or province suspected of entertaining liberal views, shall as much as possible be guarded from an iniOiux of strangers, any attempt to penetrate through the line of demarcation which they may have drawn, devoid of a j^ssport, or in defiance of established regulations, is not only an act of folly, for which no excuse can atone, but may be attended with very disagreeable consequences. This is a rule which holds good in all cases, but in reference to the question now under consideration, it was doubly binding, because Cracow laboured under disadvantages even more palpable, than affect the condition of other northern towns which may be charged with liberalism. In the first place, it was known to have been the resort of many fugitives from Warsaw, an offence which the Czar could not possibly forgive. In the next place, plots were understood to have been concocted within its walls, for the restoration of Poland to its place among the nations of Europe ; and last, though not least, each of the powers which observed it, looked with an eye of as much suspicion upon the other two, as upon the delinquent republic itself. Hence a OF VISITING CRACOW. 115 passport granted by one would have availed little, provided the counter-signatures of the other two were wanting : for Russia, though ready to overthrow the liberties of the republic, was not willing that it should pass under the dominion of Austria ; Austria was as little disposed to acquiesce in its absorption by Russia; and Prussia would by no means consent, that either Austria or Russia should obtain by its occupa- tion, so large and valuable an addition to its already overgrown territories. Having well considered this matter, we came, though reluctantly, to the conclusion, that it would be judicious not to persevere in the design of visiting Cracow. We had learned, from our experifence of the Austrian police elsewhere, that neither by reasoning nor en- treating are they to be moulded to a traveller's purposes ; and we could not hope to find them more pliable in Galicia than they had shown themselves either in Moravia or Bohemia. Besides, what was there to be seen in Cracow ? The exterior of things, doubtless ; — ^the streets, and squares, and churches, — but nothing from which any idea might be formed either of the state of society in the town, or the system of education pursued in the university. For at this time the class-rooms were all shut up ; of 116 ABANDON OUR DESIGN the professors some had gone into banishment, many of the students were under arrest, and the strong arm of power caused its weight to be felt even in the domestic circles. Under all these circumstances we judged it more prudent to relinquish our purpose voluntarily, than to run the risk of finding ourselves turned back from the gates of Cracow, or possibly treated there as spies and political adventurers. Our determination, though a wise one, brought this evil consequence along with it, that our whole plan of campaign was deranged, and, at a moment's notice, the necessity was imposed upon us of devising another. An accident, if I may so express myself, settled for us a question which might have otherwise per- plexed us greatly, and resulted in disappoint- ment. We were strongly advised not to pass the Hungarian frontier. Throughout Galicia, we were assured, that we should meet with nothing, either in the habits of the people or the aspect of the country, to repay us for the extreme inconvenience which would every- where attend our mode of travel. There Avere no peculiarities of national manners to be studied ; there was little in the scenery which would endure a moment's comparison witli what we had already seen, and might yet OF VISITING CRACOW. 117 expect to see in Hungary. The people were all wretchedly poor; there were no resident gentry; the police regulations were even more vexatious than in any other portion of the empire; and the inns, kept by Jews, were intolerable. AH this, it must be admitted, was uninviting enough, yet I question whether we should not have faced it, had not another reason been advanced why we should restrict ourselves, at least for awhile, to the Hungarian territory. We learned that, further to the right, along the valley of the Graan, the regiment of Wal- moden cuirassiers was stationed, and that we should find among its oflScers several of our countrymen ; from whom, or from their mess- mates, a good route might be obtained. We accordingly made up our minds, instead of crossing the Waag, and so pushing by the great road over the border, to follow the ascent of the stream ; and to take our chance of finding some mountain-path which might conduct us, should the desire continue in force, into Ga- licia. It was a clear bright morning, when, still attended by Mr. De Butts, we quitted Sillein. He had proposed overnight that we should accompany him to the chateau of Count Pom- gratz, a hospitable mansion which lay a few 118 ANGLING. miles out of our road ; and either dine there, or remain all night, according as might best accord with our own wishes and arrangements. We had fallen in with his suggestion when he made it ; but now a strong inclination to trjr whether the Waag would render up to our English tackle any portion of its finny race, came in the way; and the certainty of enjoying at least one pleasant evening in society, was relinquished for the hope of a good day's sport. We screwed up our rods, and set to work. But from the first I did not anticipate much, and the result answered to my anticipations. The waters of the Waag are too white, — too much impregnated with the phosphate of lime, — ^to answer the purposes of the fly-fisher. We had no success at all ; though we persevered so long, as to take away from us all power ot reconsidering our decision touching Count Pomgratz, and had nothing left but to push, as fast as we could, for St. Martin. While we were flogging the water, our coun- tryman lingered near, and pointed out, just across the stream, a chateau, of which the modern parts were gathered round a square tower of enormous thickness. It was the castle of Budatin ; and, like every other in this land of romance, had various legends attached CASTLE OP BUDATIN. 119 to it. " At present," said our intelligent com- panion, ** it is inhabited by a widow lady, — a very charming person, — the Countess Csaky; but its original owners were the Graffs Surrok, —from generation to generation the most ferocious barons of this country. As the cir- cumstance which brought it, and the extensive property which belongs to it, into the family of the Csakys, is a curious one, it may, perhaps, amuse you if I state it. •* You see that enormous tower in the centre of the pile. I cannot say when it was erected, but it is of great antiquity; and the walls are so thick and solid that, though all within was consumed by fire six centuries ago, they remain without rent or crack, or any other evidence that time is working its accustomed effects upon them. If you had leisure to visit the spot you would, moreover, see in one of these walls a niche, within which I have often stood, and which is intimately connected with the little history which I am going to relate to you. ** At the period of the first crusade, or, to speak more correctly, ere Peter the Hermit had gone forth on his warlike mission, the castle of Budatin was owned by a Graff Surrok, who, bold and fierce, and proud and ambitious, was at feud, more or less deadly, with all his 120 LEGEND OF neighbours. He had been married many years, during which his wife had brought him several children, but all had died in their infancy, save one daughter, whom they reared with difficulty, and to whom, as might be expected, they were much attached. It chafed the stern lord's soul, to be sure, that a maiden should succeed to his possessions, aiid transfer them, with her hand, to some other stock, less noble, perhaps, than his own ; but the feeling, though bitter, was not sufficiently powerful to overmaster his strong affection for his daughter, whom he loved with all the ardour of which his nature was capable. " Many suitors sought her in marriage, when she grew to woman's estate, — but they were all rejected. They were neighbours, and as such, little to the proud lord's taste ; and when at length the banner of the cross was uplifted, and he made up his mind to follow it, Leonora seemed as far as ever from becoming the bride of any one. " The graff went his way, and was absent several years, — during which the spirit of hos- tility which had heretofore agitated the valley of the Waag, died out. It appeared as if the wizard, at whose bidding it rose, was gone, or had lost his influence, and friendly communica- tions and kind greetings began to pass among BUDATIN. 121 the several families. In particular there ceased to be wrath between the rival houses of Surrok and Pomgratz ; and visits of ceremony soon led the way to more intimate and confidential cor- respondence. At last, the young Count Pom- gratz declared himself the lover of Leonora, and was by her accepted. The lady mother, too, despairing of her lord's return, opposed not the suit, and the day which was to render the young people happy was fixed. It came, — and brought with it all the appliances of a wedding-morn in that chivalrous age. The bishop was in the castle of Budatin ; its halls were filled with guests ; — ^wine and wassail were everywhere abundant; and the church was preparing to bless the union, when the arrival of two strange knights marked with the cross on their shoulders, arrested the ceremony. They were covered with dust, and toil-worn as with much travail ; yet they refused for a while either to speak or to unhelm, — ^but stood, silent and rigid, regarding the scene before them as if with scorn, and casting over the assembled crowd a gloom which was quite mysterious. At length one of them lifted his vizor, and displayed the well-known features of Count Surrok. He was furious with rage ; he drove the bishop from his presence, he commanded VOL. III. ^ 122 LEGEND OF Count Pomgratz to flee for his life, and put a very effectual stop to all the festivities, as well in ladies' bower as in the hall of the retainers. "Though Count Surrok had not been very regular in his correspondence, (it is not quite clear that he had ever learned to write,) he had done his duty, and struck many hard blows among the infidels. Neither had his banner been borne to the earth, save once, and then he fell with it. But when the sword of the Moslem was lifted to strike, a Christian war- rior succoured him, and his pennant fluttered once more triumphantly in the air. To that knight he promised, in the exuberance of his gratitude, the hand of his dau^ter Leonora ; and the father and future husband were now come to see that the promise was fulfilled. It was to no purpose that Leonora and her mother pleaded a prior engagement. Count Surrok did not know any right which either wife or daughter had to contract engagements, and the Lady Leonora was commanded to accept, on the instant. Count Czaky for her husband. " There was much weeping, and fainting, and complaining, of course, but the graff continued inexorable; and the altar being dressed once more, Leonora, with her new lover, stood before it The priest put his question, . * Would she BUDATIN. 123 have this man for her husband V and, with a courage worthy of her lineage, she answered, * No !' The book was closed ; but the county furious with rage, dashed the delinquent to the earth, and swore, by all the saints, that she should obey him or perish. She was his only child, — ^but what of that ? Graff Surrok would not be thwarted even by an only child, so he caused a niche to be hollowed out in the wall of the keep or dungeon, and into that he thrust her. A loaf of bread and a pitcher of water were placed beside her, and the niche was then built up. ^ We shall see,' exclaimed the sol- dier of the cross, * whether this obstinacy be or be not unconquerable. Thou shalt not come out of thy narrow prison till thou hast con- sented to wed thy lather's preserver, and not one morsel more of food or drink shall be given thee !' ** It was a barbarous deed, and having been done openly, it caused a great sensation in the valley. Young Count Pomgratz heard of it ; and, arming his followers, he came upon Buda- tin that night by surprise, and, after a stout resistance, won it. The lady was released^ the tower was burned, and all things appeared to have fiiilen into a right course. But Count Pomgrats^ though he had delivered his mistress G 2 124 LEGEND OF BUDATIN. with the strong hand, was yet unwilling to break entirely with her father, — so he lingered amid the ruins two hours, in the hope of soften- ing the proud man's ire. Time was thus afforded to Count Czaky, of which he made good use ; and when the lovers went forth to seek a home in the castle of Ovar, he was ready, with an overwhelming force, to intercept them. What could valour, even when ani- mated by despair, effect, against superior num- bers, and experience in battle? The brave young cavalier fell covered with wounds, and Count Czaky remained master of the field. I wish that a regard to the truth of history would permit me to say that the Lady Leonora died with her lover, or that, true to his memory, she shut herself up in a convent, and devoted her remaining years to saying masses for his soul, — but it was not so. On the contrary, the man of her own choice being slain, she ceased to -oppose herself to her father's wishes, and be- <3oming the wife of Count Czaky, brought into that family the possessions which they still retain,- — of which the present countess is but the administratrix for her son, who is a boy." We listened to this legend with great inte- rest, and would have willingly visited the old tower, but that time and opportunity were ACCOUNT OF THE TORPINDAS. 125 alike wanting. Tliere was no ferry within seve- ral miles of us, and to have wandered back after reaching it, would have been to borrow too much from a day, for which more than ade- quate employment was already cut out. For our friend, among other pieces of useful in- formation, had not only explained to us the real character of the Torpindas, but had de- lighted us by the intelligence that on our route to St. Martin we might, if we were so disposed, visit one of their settlements. " They are an exceedingly curious trib§," said ^e, "but they are not gypsies, though their habits be, in every respect, different from those of the peasants whom as yet you may have encountered. They live entirely by themselves, and work for no masters. They inhabit glens among these mountains, a supe- riority over which is asserted, indeed, by one or other of the neighbouring nobles, but no man living thinks of disturbing these Torpindas in the seats which, from time immemorial, they and their forefathers have occupied. On the other hand, the Torpindas pay for their right of occupancy, a tribute in money to some lord. Their mode of raising the wind is as curious as anything else connected with them. You saw them in Bohemia, offering for sale brass pipe-pickers, and other nic-nacs. These they 126 ACCOUNT OF THE TORPINDAS. fabricate at home during the winter, and in summer, as soon as the seed is sown, they quit their villages, and wander far and wide in search of a market for their wares. If you go to any of their settlements, at the present moment, it is a chance if you find there a single male above thirteen or fourteen years of age. All the men and lads are abroad, and so they will continue till winter sets in, or they have dis- posed of their merchandise.*' " And the women, are they left at home ?" " Yes, regularly. The women and children never quit their valleys ; and what is more, should the husbands and sons of any settlement in particular be late of returning, their neigh- bours, who may have been more expeditious, or had better luck in trade, come and gather in their com for the absentees. I strongly advise you to take a look at one of their villages, should you stumble upon it, — ^for they are a very curious people." We thanked Mr. De Butts for all the infor- mation which he had communicated to us, and for this not less than for other details; and packing our rods in their cases, made ready to act upon his suggestion. He walked with us as far as the ferry, shook hands with us affec- tionately at the water's edge, and there we MOUNTAIN SCENERY* 127 parted. The last we saw of him was when his boat had gained the middle of the stream, for then we rounded the edge of a hill» and the next step placed between him and us a screen which will not, in all human probability, be lifted for ever. Our walk this day was, without exception, the most interesting, in every point of view, of all to which my recollections of this Hungarian excursion, point. In the first place the scenery far surpassed, in grandeur and in beauty, even the finest of the landscapes which had pre- viously greeted us. We had won the upper extremity of the valley, and found ourselves closing upon mountains, — ^not perhaps quite so lofty as those which surround Innspruck, in the Tyrol, but very little inferior to them even in point of altitude ; and in other respects, at least, their equals. I never beheld forests more glorious than those which covered them to more than half their height. I never looked upon crags and rocks, more beetling, more rugged, more thoroughly majestic, than those which interrupted the gloom of these forests, and overtopped them. And for the rest, peak and bald brow were rolled one over the other, like the billows of a troubled ocean, ever vary- ing in their shapes and outlines, yet ever bring- 128 MOUNTAIN SCENERY. ing before us some new forms of beauty. Such was the picture with which each step that we took in advance brought us more and more in collision ; while behind, and on each side, lay the plain, the noble river, the towns through which we had passed, here and there a village, and finally ranges of bold hills shutting all the rest in, as if with a frame of adamant. Not in all my wanderings, — and I have worshipped na- ture in many lands,— ^has my eye rested on a panorama more perfect in its degree than this. We held our very breaths as we gazed upon it, and resumed our progress with an energy which never comes, except when the imagination has been reached through the medium of the senses. There was a road, and a good one, of which we took advantage. It ran in some sort pa- rallel with the Waag, except that it cut off one or two enormous curves which the river makes in this quarter, and it brought us into acquaint- ance with more than one particular object which put in strong claims upon our notice. We saw, as we trudged along, an eminence, crowned, here and there, with a gallows. There were no dead bodies, to be sure, swinging in the air ; but we recollected what Mr. De Butts had told us concerning the recent prevalence of OVAR CASTLE. 129 martial law in the country, and we concluded, as it afterwards appeared not without reason, that here numerous executions had taken place. By-and-by we gained a point where the plain ended altogether, and mountain piled upon mountain alone met the gaze. No power of language could do justice to the scene. We stood at the summit of a swelling hill, which we had won, not without considerable exertion. Beneath us the Waag poured on his troubled waters, hemmed in, on either hand, by banks which left little of open space between him and the rocks that formed the roots of the giant mountains through which he made his way. But this was not all. On one side a. straggling village seemed to follow the course of the stream ; and was overlooked, at its upper extremity, by the ruins of a fortalice, — a bold baronial-looking pile ; not, indeed, very exten- sive, but so planted on the crest of a detached rock, as to render it perfectly secure against the attacks of an enemy who might not care to reduce it by the slow process of famine. It was all that remained of Ovar Castle, the ancient hold of the Pomgratzes ; a family which traces itself down from the Roman general Pomgranitus, and claims to be accounted one of the oldest among the nobility of Europe. I G 3 130 LEGEND CONCERNING cannot pretend to offer so much as an opinion touching the justice or injustice of this claim. I only know that the remains of the keep are very striking, and that there is a rather curious story attached to them. Within distinct view of the ruined castle, though lower in the vale, and having the Waag spread between, is a village called Stretschin, an inconsiderable place, remarkable for nothing except the circumstance of which I am now going to make mention. In the church of that village there is a tomb, and beneath the tomb there is a vault, where the dust of the Pomgratzes has for many ages been accumu- lated. Among the decayed and decaying relics of humanity which occupy the niches of the vault, there is pointed out to the traveller a leaden coffin ; the lid of which being raised at his bidding, the corpse of a lady meets his eye. There are no signs even of incipient decomposition about it. It lies with a pale cheek, doubtless, and a white and livid lip; but the skin is pure, the long dark hair luxu- riant, and the features, which are cast in a mould of extreme beauty, have neither col- lapsed nor lost their proportions. And so it has lain for two hundred and fifty years, and though no process of embalming was ever THE COUNTESS POHaRATZ. 131 adopted towards it, its condition remains exactly what it was when first they committed it to the grave. When you stand beside the coflSn, you look down upon the mortal shell which once contained the spirit of a true and tender-hearted woman, whose devotion to a worthless husband went not unrewarded even in life, and the memory of whose piety the Virgin has deemed it right thus to perpetuate among men. " Somewhere about the middle of the six- teenth century, says the legend, Ovar Castle was inhabited by a Count Pomgratz, whom neither the beauty nor the gentleness of a fair and gentle wife could reclaim from his profligate habits. They had not been married three months ere his attentions to his bride began to be intermitted ; and before the expiration of the year he de- serted her altogether. Rarely, indeed, did he visit his home at all ; and when he came, it was usually by stealth, for he preferred a career of guilt among his lemans and loose flatterers, and indulged his humours freely at another of his mansions across the river. The lady mourned in secret over her wrongs, yet she never grew cold in her love for the wrong-doer. On the contrary, she repaired nightly to the chapel, and prayed to the Virgin that her lord 132 LEGEND CONCERNING might be restored to her ; and, as the Virgin is exceedingly considerate in such cases, her prayers were in due time answered. As she stood before the altar on a certain occasion, she beheld a bright vision of Mary, who told her that her petitions had been accepted, and that, ere the morning dawned, the count would be brought back to her more tender and more true than he had been on the morning of their marriage. A grateful heart was that which the countess bowed before the benignant saint, and though the means by which so blessed a communication might be effected were to her a mystery, she doubted not that the result would verify the saintly promise. "The countess withdrew to her chamber to watch and weep. It was a night of fearful storm. The wind roared, and the rain fell, and the thunder bellowed through the ravines, while the Waag, swollen to more than twice his cus- tomary size, swept beneath the castle walls one mass of foam. The lady looked out from her casement, and during a lull in the tempest she heard a shriek, as if from some one who strug- gled with his fate in the midst of the stream. An inexplicable impulse was upon her. She rushed into the hall, commanded her vassals to attend her, and flew with the rapidity of thought THE COUNTE8S POHGBATZ. 133 to the river's brink. There is a feny still at the point where she halted^ — and caused a boat that lay high upon the beach to be launched. But who would venture to face that roaring river? The vassals shrank back, till the countess herself sprang into the boat, and then four of the bravest followed. They battled with the torrent nobly, and though often on the brink of destruction, they succeeded in reaching the object of their search. A boat, keel upper- most, came drifting towards them, and a solitary human being clung to it. He was rescued from his perilous situation, brought safely to the castle, and proved to be — the faithless count. I need not go on. Utterly confounded by this display of courage and devotion, on the part of the countess, he became from that hour a new man ; and they lived together for several years afterwards, in peace and harmony. But the legend is not yet ended. The grateful lady failed not, regularly as the anniversary of that night came round, to offer on the Virgin's shrine some costly gift ; and the Virgin marked her sense of the donor's liberality, by giving to her body a faculty of resistance to decay. Hence, after an interval of two centuries and a-half, her outward frame retains the aspect of life, and lies in its repose the fair and even attractive 134 8TBETSCHIN. thing of which the people of Stretschin still make their boast." We ascended the steep rock on which the castle is perched, by a narrow winding path, and looked round. The clouds, which had been gathering for some time in the sky, closed on the tops of the mountains, and rolled down enormous waves into the valleys that here and there intersect them. The forests, black, and deep, and as it seemed, interminable, waved not a bough. The air was so still, that though many hundred feet above its bed, we distinctly heard the Waag chafing on his course, till having escaped from the restraint of the ravine through which he passed, he gained the open country, and there spread himself out, as if to repose. On his further bank, at a point where the stream was divided into two channels, stood Stretschin, nestled, as it were, in a curvature of the mountain-range. Nearer, and on our side of the river, was the village of Ovar, at the very extreme edge of the plain, while in front we saw only a long and tortuous path, — ^the road which we were to follow, and by means of which we were to be conducted over a ridge several thousand feet high, to descend we knew not where. Nor may I omit to mention another THUNDER STORM. 135 object which attracted a large share of admira- tion, — a ruin considerably more extensive than that amid which we lingered, and planted, as if in rivalry of the strong hold of the Pomgratzes, on a detached cliff exactly opposite. It was altogether a glorious scene, the effect of which \vas certainly not diminished by the chequered light and shade which the growing storm cast over it ; for even the mountain-tops were not :all shrouded together, and upon the open vale which we had left behind, bright sunbeams were streaming. We sat dowii, and unbuckling our cloaks, threw them on. It was well that we did so ; for the next minute a thunder-cloud burst with a crash, and the rain fell as if once more heaven's windows had been opened. I cannot attempt to describe the sensations pro- duced upon us as we watched, from beneath the broken shelter of a buttress, the storm work itself out. The flashes of lightning which fol- lowed one another with rapidity, displayed from time to time mountain, and forest, and rock, while all seemed to disappear again in the gloom which followed; while the thunder, reverbe- rating from corrie to corrie, sounded as if there had been no interval between the peals. The storm continued about half an hour, when the clouds broke away, and the sun shone 136 DEVOTIONAL FEELING EXCITED out with a splendour which was quite over- powering. I had imagined, while the mists were collecting, that I had never looked upon so magnificent a panorama ; I now felt that I had deceived myself. A thousand minute objects which had escaped observation amid the gloom were now visible. I saw where, in the mighty forests, small clearances had been made. I beheld, far, far above me, a cottage planted here and there, upon a sort of hanging terrace. The rocks that overhung the woods, and broke in upon their majesty, were more varied and more picturesque in their forms than I had imagined them to be ; and above all, the line of perpetual snow was visible, for some of the mountains in the back-ground of this Alpine district, were white to a considerable distance beneath their peaks. I plead guilty to the weakness, if such it be, of being swayed amid scenery like this, to feelings that set all effort to delineate or explain them, at defiance. In the temple built by hands, worship may be devoutly offered up ; and the good man prays as earnestly in his own closet as in church ; but the sentiment which is called into operation by communion with nature, when she puts on such a garb as she wore this day, seems to me fer holier, far purer, far more elevating and BY GRAND NATURAL SCENERY. 137 ennobliDg to tlie human soul, than even that which the deep tones of the organ draw forth, or the words of the Liturgy, — ^however solemnly uttered, can awaken. No wonder that the men of old, undirected by the light of revelation, should have erected their altars, whenever they could, on the high places, and in the groves. In the intercourse which he holds with moun- tain and forest, man feels his own perfect weak- ness, and is glad to look round even in the wilderness, for beings more potent than himself on whom he may lean for support. How much more active, then, how much more intense, must be his devotional feeling now, that he has learned to acknowledge that God is every- where ; and that the deep solitude, as it hides him not from the eye which never sleepeth, so can it expose him to no hazards from which there is not a power at hand competent to deliver him. We waited till the last burst of the storm had expended itself, and then with frames re- freshed by the halt, and minds hallowed by the influence of all that was around us, we resumed our march. It was abundantly toilsome; for throughout two good hours we continued steadily to ascend. Yet was it delicious, too ; and when, having won the ridge, we found our- 138 ARRIVE AT selves standing above a valley, deeper, lonelier, and more narrow, than any we had yet seen, we were incapable of giving utterance even to the common-place exclamation, ^^ How magni- ficent!" On, however, we went, the woods now closing over us, now falling back, as if on purpose to afford us a glimpse of all that lay beyond them ; — ^the river, diminished to a silver thread, and stealing through the depth below; — ^above him, mountain upon mountain, lone, and sad, and hoary; while we ourselves were all the while traversing the side of a range, so bold and sheer, that in many places it hemmed us in like a wall. And then the perfect soli- tude that was around. Of human habitations, or the work of man, there was not, except in the road which we traversed, anywhere a trace ; nor did we encounter a living creature till we had descended well-nigh to the bottom of the abyss. We had gained a point in the road where it makes a sudden turn to the left, and were in the act of gathering some wild strawberries which grew in great quantities along the hill side, when a strange wild cry, something like that with which every traveller in Switzerland must be fiimiliar, attracted our attention. It came from an eminence over head, and was answered A TORPim)A SETTLEMENT. 139 from some recess far below, the answer being taken up and repeated at three or four different points; a very satisfactory proof that, though not yet visible, beings of like passions with our- selves were not far from us. Our curiosity was roused, and we determined to gratify it; so pushing in the direction of the height from which the first whoop proceeded, we found our- selves in a moment at the gorge of a glen, which but for this accident, would have escaped our notice. We entered it without scruple, and after traversing a rude path that had been cut out in the jungle, we emerged from beneath its shade, and lo ! an inhabited strath was before us. It was a long, but narrow glen, studded at intervals with some twelve or fourteen huts of the most primitive architecture, and laid out, throughout its recess, in fields of rye and buck-wheat. We moved on, and presently a whole troop of dogs rushed barking and furiously towards us: this was not exactly the sort of reception for which we would have bargained, for even the common sheep-dog of Hungary, and these were nothing more, is a very savage beast ; but we put a bold face upon the matter, and levelling our rods kept the enemy at bay. We were not, how- ever, left to maintain, without support, what might have proved, in the end, so unequal a 140 OUB BECEPTION combat. From the nearest of the huts, several women came forth, and, the dogs being called off, we were permitted to move forward. We looked round and round, but saw no men. Women and children there were in abundance, but their fathers and brothers seemed all to be absent; and we came to the conclusion, that chance had conducted us to one of the settle- ments of the Torpindas. We were not deceiving ourselves, this was a Torpinda settlement ; and in everything within and around it, in the order of its society, the condition of the individuals of whom it was composed, it agreed entirely with the description which Mr. De Butts had given. As was to be expected, we were quite as much objects of curiosity to the inhabitants of that glen, as they could be to us. At first, indeed, they seemed somewhat afraid of us ; for after calling off their dogs, they withdrew to their own doors, and continued to stare at us without making any advances towards acquaint- anceship. Our gallantry of course took the alarm; and by a variety of signs we endea- voured to convince them, that we came with no hostile intention. The women appeared to understand us, but the children clung about their mothers' knees as we advanced, and the BY THE INHABITANTS. 141 dogs were by no means inclined to deal kindly by us. In spite of the hostile demonstrations of the latter we moved on; and were soon within conversational distance ; but alas ! con- versation, except by gestures, was out of the question. Not a word that we uttered was by them understood, nor were their words one whit more intelligible to us. We were desirous of entering one of the cottages, and accordingly pointed to our mouths as if we had been hungry. The person to whom we addressed our- selves evidently guessed at our meaning; for she turned round and said something in a loud voice, which brought to the door another woman, a good deal older than herself, and a brief consultation appeared to take place be- tween them. The result was, that they beckoned us to come in, and we passed the threshold. The hovel into which we thus introduced ourselves, though very poor and very filthy, was at least equal to many which I have seen, both in Ireland and in the Highlands of Scotland. The walls, to be sure, were made of the branches of trees, plastered over with mud; the floor was earth, and the roof thatched ; but the win- dows, and there were two, though very small, had glass in them ; and there was a fire-place with a chimney at one of the extremities. The 142 THEIB HABITATIONS. furniture consisted of three rude beds, two settles or forms, one longer than the other ; a huge chest, and a couple of stools. There were some shelves under the roof, on which stood various articles of crockery, some brown, others a dingy white ; and a churn in the far corner seemed to indicate that the occupants kept either cows or goats, and knew how to make butter. That they were rich in milk, was in- deed made manifest by the production of a pitcher full; which the younger of the two women placed, with a loaf of black rye bread before us ; and both her own manner, and that of her companion, satisfied us that they were not anxious to spare it. We ate and drank a little, rather to gratify them, than because we were in need of refreshment; and were well pleased to observe, that their only wish seemed to be that we would eat and drink more. We had observed, while we were conversing by signs in the open air, that there had been a great stir in the settlement. The inmates of every cottage came forth, and now one after another they poured in, till the room was incon- veniently crowded with them. We were much amused with the grotesque group before us, and particularly struck with the change which ad- vancing years seemed to make upon the indi- THEIR DItESS AND APPEARANCE. 143 Tiduals composing it. The children, for example, were generally pretty ; dark, indeed, and sallow in their complexions, but healthy-looking. Of the younger women, the appearance of some was tolerable ; but all those who had attained to middle age, or passed it, were hideous. Their dresses again, seemed not to vary either in form or material, after they attained to early youth. As infants, and for a few years beyond infancy, only a few rags of coarse linen covered them ; as women, whether young or old, they wore short woollen petticoats, jackets of the same, and their hair wrapped up in handkerchiefs; but they were universally squalid and filthy. We were amused, as I have already said, by the grotesque groups that faced us; for the children came with their mothers, and old and young appeared animated by the same feeling of eager curiosity to examine us ; but a sense of the ridiculous gave place, ere long, to satiety, and we rose to depart. A few small silver coins, which we gave to the younger branches of the family, were accepted with a lively demon- stration of gratitude. I do not believe that such a compensation for the bread and milk was expected ; indeed, at one time, I thought that the women would have declined to receive it; but the Torpindas are a money-loving 144 ORIGIN OF race, and their reluctance, if they really ex- perienced such, to be paid for the hospitality which they had dispensed, was not proof against the glitter of the precious metal. They kissed our hands, by way of thanking us, and we left then). Our conversation, as will readily be imagined, turned almost exclusively, during the remainder of our walk, on the condition and mode of life of the remarkable people, whose homes we had just quitted. What are these Torpindas ? How comes it about that they have not passed, like the rest of the peasants of the hills, into a state of vassalage ; and under what system of govern- ment, if under any, do they live ? These were questions which we could not then answer, and with the means of answering which, some time elapsed ere we were supplied ; but as the subject is before us, it may not be amiss if I state here, in few words, the substance of what was at a later period communicated to me. The Torpindas, it appears, are not descended from the same stock with the conmion pea- sants ; and are of much longer standing in the country. They are of Slavonic origin, doubt- less ; but their language, though radically the same with that of the people of Modem and Beise, differs fit>m it in so many minute points^ THE TORPINDAS. 145 that a Torpinda and a Slavac can scarce carry on a lengthened conversation, at least without much difficulty and some confusion on both sides. It is accordingly surmised, that if there be such things in Carpatia as aborigines at all, the Torpindas deserve so to be esteemed. Be this, however, as it may, the opinion appears to be well supported, which assumes, that driven back by the Slavonians out of the richer valleys, they long ago took refuge in these glens ; and that the Hungarians when they overran the rest of the country, left them in quiet possession of their settlements. I found, too, that in another and very important respect, the con- dition of the Torpindas is different from that of the Slavacs around them. Though not pa- gans, in the proper acceptation of the term, they can hardly be said, even now, to have embraced Christianity ; for there are no places of worship nor resident clergy in their villages ; and I do not believe that they ever come down from their fastnesses, in order to participate in the rites of the church. With respect again to their system of government, though it be in name, what the Hungarian legislature has esta- blished, I cannot find that they greatly trouble themselves by making appeals in case of wrong received, to the constituted authorities. Each VOL. III. H 146 THE TORPINDAS. village, on the contrary, forms a sort of republic within itself, of which the affairs are managed by the heads of families; while between the several settlements only so much communi- cation is kept up, that the occupants of one are ever ready to assist the occupants of another in case of need. In a word, the condition of the Torpindas resembles in many respects that of some of the Indian tribes of America ; with this essential difference between them, that whereas the Indians subsist chiefly by the chase, the Torpindas are at once, an agricultural, a pas- toral, and a mechanical people. I do not recollect that there occurred, after we quitted the Torpinda settlement, any adven- ture which deserves that I should pause to describe it. We dipped down into the glen ; ascended another, through a humbler range of hills, and beheld before us a new valley, similar to that which is watered by the Waag, but consi- derably wider. Into this we penetrated ; and having committed fewer blunders than from our ignorance of the language might have been expected, — ^we arrived about six o'clock at our station for the night, the village, or rather, town of St. Marton. 147 CHAPTER YI. ST. MARTON. CURIOUS CUSTOMS. — PURSUE OUR WALK.— THE HUNGARIAN PEASANT. STATE OP PROTEST ANTISlkC OF AGRICULTURE. MOSSOCS. TOILSOME MARCH. KREMNITZ. PROCEED TOWARDS NEUSOHL. RECALLED. ^THE GYPSIES. The Hungarian, — or^ to speak more correctly, the Slavonian villages, — are nowhere remarkable for their cleanliness, but anything to approxi- mate the filth of St. Marton I never beheld. The streets were literally masses of mud, with, here and there a narrow lane cut through the impurities, whether by the spade or the feet of passers to and fro, I cannot tell. It is a place which, containing from twelve to fifteen hundred inhabitants, can boast of its court-house and two churches. There are two inns, one kept by a Jew, the* other by a Christian ; and of the dwellings, some, in their external appearance at least, might pass muster anywhere; yet> take it for all in all, I remember it as the most perfect sink of abominations, into which my evil fortune has ever led me. For not the exterior of things only, but in the interior alsOj^ H 2 148 OUR QUARTERS AT ST. MARTON. at least in the cabaret which afforded us shelter for the night, confusion reigned supreme. In the strength of our bigotry or the ignorance of our hearts, we established ourselves in the Christian hotel ; and were immediately taught that a man's tastes for the elegancies of life are little operated upon by his religious belief. The most swinish Israelite that ever eschewed pork, could not have inhabited a more perfect sty. Having prevailed, by dint of much coaxing, to get our apartment purified from some of the deposits which previous occupants, including a swarm of cocks and hens, had left there, we Inquired for the detachment of Walmoden cuirassiers, to overtake which formed one of our objects in visiting St. Marton at all. We found, to our regret, that it had marched two days previously, and that our countryman, Mr. Craw- ford, was understood to be in quarters at Hoy, a village some sixteen or eighteen English miles distant. There was nothing for it, under such circumstances, except to summon our philoso* phy to our aid, and to make the most of things as we found them. I cannot say that during our brief sojourn here much was added to our stock of useful knowledge ; yet we did see something which amused, if it can hardly be CURIOUS SCENE. 149 described as edifying; and though not the people, but the animals, were the principal actors in the scene, I may as well describe it. We were sitting beside the open window, the sun having gone down about an hour, when all at once there came pouring along the street a whole mob of pigs, cows, and geese, grunting, lowing, cackling, and careering full tilt, to the palpable discomfort of every biped whom they encountered. It was curious to observe the sagacity with which the creatures, one after another, broke off from the throng, and made each for its own domicile. Here an enormous sow went splashing through the mud, down some filthy lane, till she reached her sty ; there a couple or two of geese, with wings distended, skimmed over the earth's surface, towards their roost* On the whole, the movements of the cows were the most decorous, though they, like their companions, travelled entirely free of con- trol. We remembered, as we watched the antics of these animals, what had been told us of the custom, in reference to such matters, in Bohemia ; and we came to the conclusion that here also the cattle belonging to each village were fed in common. We were not mistaken in drawing this inference ; and we had the good fortune, — for so, amid much laughing, we ac- M 150 CURIOUS SCENE. eounted it, — ^to witness next morning the pro- cess of muster as it went on. The first streaks of dawn were jnst coming in, when a long, and loud, and peculiar blast of a horn awoke me. I jumped up, and saw, standing beneath my window, a peasant, with a sort of trumpet at his mouth, made, as it seemed, of the bark of a tree, and not less, at a moderate estimate, than five feet long. With this he blew a flourish at intervals, passing on after each, about thirty or forty yards ; and he was answered by the out- pouring of cattle, geese, and pigs ; each com- ing, as it had gone on the previous evening, entirely unattended, and all joining in a concert more audible than harmonious. I defy the gravest of mortal men, when beholding that spectacle for the first time, to suppress his laughter. Yet the scene, though ludicrous to us, was regarded by the principal actors in it as an affair of great moment The peasant continued to wind his horn till all the beasts of the village were assembled ; and then, being joined by two or three others of his own class, the whole assem- blage went on their way, amid the cracking t think it necessary, early as the BUINED CASTLES. 151 hour was, to lie down again; but completed our toilets, and ordered breakfast. This done^ we prepared to resume our march; and having marked on our chart, as a conTenient halting- place against noon, the town of Mossocs, to- wards it we turned our steps. Our progress was very delightful, for the air was mild, the sky dappled with clouds, and the scenery, though much less magnificent than that of the previous day, highly interesting. We traversed a plain, bounded on every side by noble mountains, and washed here and there by the waters of a petty stream, over which the com waved in great luxuriance, except where, at intervals, some enormous meadow or sweep of natural grass intervened. Moreover there were seen afar off, at the roots of the hills, one or two villages, while several ruinous castles, perched among the rocks above, spoke of days gone by, and of a state of society connected with them, which shall not, at least in Europe, be brought back again. But it was not on account of the gratification which we experienced from the things which were submitted to the outward senses, that this day's march has been marked in my diary as a pleasant one. We had not proceeded many miles beyond St. Marton, when we fell in with a man, better dressed than the 152 CONVERSATION WITH generality of the peasants, though evidently belonging to their class ; and as he spoke and understood German sufficiently for our purpose, we hastened to open with him a conversation. I make no apology for repeating here the sub- stance of it. The ordinary salutations of tlie morning having passed, and the countryman being satisfied, both as to our lineage and our business, we in our turn became the catecliists. We questioned him, first, as to his own con- dition, and we learned that he was a tenant on the estate of Baron Proni ; that by religion he was a Protestant, and that his worldly affairs were very prosperous. " Indeed we are almost all Protestants in this part of the country," continued he, " and I am happy to add, that my eldest son is our minister." " Then one of the two churches which we observed in St. Marton is a Protestant place of worship ?" demanded I. " To be sure it is," replied he, ** and it is there that my son ofllciates." The latter portion of this answer appearing to encourage the belief that our new acquaint- ance might be better acquainted, than the generality of his order, with the existing state of Protestantism in Hungary, I led the conver- A PROTESTANT. 153 sation for awhile into that channel; and I must confess that the extent of his information surprised me. He appeared to have made the subject his study, probably while training his son to the ministry; and was altogether an excellent specimen of the zealous and con- scientious dissenter, such as we everywhere find him. For it is a fact that, in reference to the points of diflference between their own and the dominant commimion, and, indeed, in all matters of church history, through whatever medium of prejudice examined, dissenters are,, in nine cases out of ten, much better informed than the members of the church from which their own has seceded. The churchman is content to abide by the religion of his fathers ; first, because it came to him from his fathers ; and next, because it is the establishment; whereas the dissenter must, in order to justify himself in his own eyes, be able to assign some reason for his rejection of that church's^ ministration. Accordingly, in Hungaiy, as well as in England, the dissenter, — in the former country, the Protestant, — ^will generally be found to possess a much more familiar acquaintance with the statistics of religion than the Roman Catholic. I do not mean to assert that he is always correct either in his facts or H3 l&i PROTESTANTISM liis infereoieefi; and I protest against the as- Bumption of the notion that on this individual Protestant in partieular I depend as an autho- jity for 'wh$i I am going to saj. I refer to ium sckerelj as illustrating the justice of an opinion which is nmTersally entertained in this country, that whenever you €ome to a Pro- testant district you percea ve around you marks of greater intelligence, and more patient indus- try« and of a ^(tate be highly interesting, and which it may not perhaps be out of place to describe. We had accomplished about half our da/s journey, and were arrived at a point whence all evidences of human society were hidden. It seemed ta be th^ very heart of the glen^ for the level space between the ranges of hills waft much diminished, and both hill and vale pre- sented the appearance of a continuous forest. Just then while we were gazing round, filled with admiration of the woodland scene^ some wreaths of smoke, ascending over the tops of the trees, attracted our notice. Our curiosity 176 THE GIPSY CAMP. was roused, and we resolved to indulge it. Accordingly we abandoned the road, and pene- trating a sort of grove on the right, we found ourselves in a few minutes at the edge of an open glade, within which three or four wig- wams, or huts, formed of leafy branches, were pitched. There was no possibility of mistaking either the purpose for which the encampment had been formed, or the lineage and business of those by whom it was tenanted. Half a dozen children, naked as if just brought into the world, well-made and graceful-looking crea- tures, with skins as dark as a mahogany table, were playing about the skirts of the forest. Others, equally devoid of covering, though con- siderably more advanced in years, were gather- ing sticks, or chopping them up for fire-wood ; while from the interior of the largest of the tents, there came volumes of smoke, accompa- nied by a din as of hammers ringing sharply upon an anvil. My companion and I looked at one another, while we exclaimed in a breath, "We have found the gipsies at last.*' We had found them ; and rejoicing in the accident which had thus brought us into a situation so favourable in every respect to the accomplish- ment of a long-cherished wish, we hastened to turn it to account. THE GIPSY CAMP. 177 The noise which we made while crashing through the underwood, had already attracted the attention of the gipsies. The children sus- pended their gambols ; while from the tent door there looked out two or three women, one of whom, — an elderly person, — advanced to meet us. Men's heads, likewise, showed themselves at the aperture, round, well-covered, globular- looking things, of which the countenances were of a hue deeper than that of the high-caste Hindoos, and the features, as well as the hair^ precisely similar. We were well armed, and did not, therefore, experience the slightest re- luctance as to mixing familiarly with them. On the contrary, having saluted the woman, who spoke a few, and only a few, words of bad German, we walked towards the tent, and without a moment's hesitation, entered. The tent was not filled ; indeed, we quickly ascertained that a good many members of the tribe were abroad ; but it contained, in additioo to ourselves, three men, four women, three oat*^; four half-grown youths, and by-and-by the whole troop of children, who came rushing in from wood and dell, and work and play, to gaze at the strangers. Two of the women were youngs and one beautiful. I do not think she could have been more than fifteen years of age, yet I 3 178 THE GIPSY CAMP. an infant was at her breaat, who, like its mother, wa& of a dark mahogany colour. The men, again^ and especially one of them, who seemed to exercise authority over the rest, were remarkably muscular, athletic-looking fellows, though under,^ rather than above, the middle height. They were entirely naked, except that each wore a sort of girdle round his loins ; in- deed, neither they nor the ladies seemed at all ftstidious in the matter of dress. The attire of the women was a s^ort petticoat, and a sort of shawl which left the arms entirely bare, and hardly covered the bosom. When we first entered, the men and half- grown lads were all squatted on the ground. Three fires were burning, beside each of which stood a portable anvil ; and red-hot iron rods, and hammers, wielded with equal strength and address, showed that they were not kept there for mere purposes of show. In fact, the gip- sies seemed to occupy themselves in making nails, of which a large quantity was scattered about the hut. But our presence suspended their labours^ and some amusing though very awkward efibrts to open a conversation ensued. Alas! they led to no fortunate results. Except the old womanv there was not one among them who understood a word of German; and her TBEl GIPSY CAMP. I7d acquaintai^ee with it seemed to be limited ta ^^ ^^g^^ Tocabulaiy. Ta say the trudi, hawever, they were all, and especially the chil- dren, well Tersed in the arts of solicitation^ We were surrofinded in a HMHuent by the most importunate solieitors of &yoiira whom I have anywhere eneouutered ; sa that before three minutes ran their eonzse, we had been eased of all our copper, and some of the silver eoins^ which lay loose in oar pockets. We had not made much progress^ towards intimiacy^ when. I espied in one of the corners of the hut a fiddly and the thought struck me that it mighty by possibilii^, operate as a bond of union between ua» I threw off my knapsack^ seized the instrument, ajid began to play. It had only three strsng^ and was altogether a rude instrument, mme especially in my handi^ whose skill as^ a TioKnist i» c^ the humblest order, yei the aoumds brought fortkfdl upon Tery wilHng €sars» and the ^ect produced by them was manretloua. The gipsies — ^yovkng an^ old — shouted^ cb^ped their hands, and jumped up. I motioned to the yoongei portion, of them to dane^ and ihey eiBtotyoured to obej me; but my time did noi &11 ini with the cadeoce of theiar noremenis^ and we made bui a sorry affinr of it Upoa tkfas, I handed the 180 THE GIPSY CAHP. instrument to the chief, and a change came over the vision of our dream. He played beau- tifully. The music was wild, to be sure, and irregular ; but each note was clear and harmo- nious, and the dancing, imder his management, took a character entirely national. I do not know to what I can compare it; for I have seen nothing in other lands which at all resem- bled it ; but I may state that the movements, which at first were slow, became gradually more lively, till in the end, the figures seemed to glide to and fro with the rapidity of the wind. Arms, heads, and body, all took part, moreover, in the exercise, and all, by their evolutions, added to the grace and harmony of the figure. The gipsies and we being now the best friends in the world, we were invited by signs to be- come their guests at supper. There was a pot boiling near the door of the hut, of which one of the women lifted the lid, and the savoury steam that came forth seemed to indicate that the mess, of whatever materials composed, would soon be ready. But we declined their proffered hospitality. Curiosity was satisfied; and in other respects, the inducements to linger among them were not numerous. I say nothing of the odours which hung upon the stagnant air, nor of the intense heat that oppressed us ; THE GIPSIES. 181 but the living creatures in that tent were innu- merable, and we had no particular desire to appropriate any portion of them to our own use. In a word, the romance of gipsyism had evaporated, and we saw only its real, and per- haps most disgusting features. We accordingly took leave of our sooty acquaintances, and re- sumed our journey. I do not know that there is any country in Europe where the genuine gipsy is now to be found, so thoroughly addicted to his original habits, as in Hungary. The Hungarians call these strange people Cygnanis, and speak of thern^ as a distinct community vnthin themselves ; as passing to and fro by tribes, each under its respective chief, and little noticed either by the law or its administrators, except when accused of some crime against the state. They owe fealty to no noble ; they are not possessed any- where of a rood of land, though some of them are rich in horses and cattle, and even gold and silver is abundant with them. The horde which we encountered was evidently a small one, neither could it boast of much wealth ; but the period was recent, since, through the same valley, a caravan had passed, concerning which and its leader, many stories were related to us. The chief, it was said, travelled in a wagon 182 THE OIPSIE9. which was drawn hy four beautiful horses. He had several wives to his own share, and his tribe amounted to forty men, besides women ttid childrei^ all of whom paid ta him the most unquestioning obedience, even when obedience set them in opposition to the constituted autho- rities. The consequence was^ that avoiding the vicinity of large towns and villages, where troops might be quartered, they levied contri- butions whithersoever they came, not only from individual travellers^ but from whole commimi- ties. One of their exploits jb thus spoken of. Their cbie^ somehow or another, contrived to discover that the riechter of a hamlet near which they had pitdied their camp, had collected from the peasants one of the taxes that chanced to be due, and was going to forward it on the Biorrow, to the receiver for the district. The gipsy determined to possess himself of it, and with tins view caused two of his people to tt3gage in a quarrel with some peasants, who dragged them before the riechter, and began to accuse them. There was a great deal of alterca- tion, of course, during which others of the gip- ««» dropped in, whose business it was, while appearing to take an interest in the proceeding, to ascertain where the riechter kept his treasure. They succeeded in this, and departed. By-and- THK GIPSIES. 183 by np came the gipsy chief, all bedizened with gold lace, in his carriage and four, to deaxtand his people. His lordly port, and still more, a knowledge that he had fifty men to back him^ exceedingly embarrassed the riechter, whose sense of duty urged him to detain the delin- quents, but whose personal fears pointed in a difierent direction. Of course, the issue could not long be doubtful. The two men were set at liberty, and then began a fresh altercation ; for they, in their turn, in^sted that the peasants should be flogged, and themselves compensated for the wrong which had been put upon th^a. All this, as I need scarcely remark, served but as a blind by which to difvert the attention of the villagers from what was going on elsewhere. Three of the most active of the tribe, under the direction of the spies, made theii way mean* while into the back part of the house. The chest containing the treasure was seized, the robbers stole quietly away with their booty, and the chief, advertised of the fact by a signal previously agreed upon, became, all at once, more moderate in his demands. The result need hardly be told. An apology from the riechter was accepted, and the gipsy troop were far beyond the reach of pursuit, ere the unfor- 184 THE GIPSIES. tunate magistrate had ascertained the extent of his own loss. So much for a gipsy tribe, with a gold-laced chief at its head ; or rather, so much for one of the legends which are told of that tribe. Of other tribes, I learned, that they are often so degraded, as to live like beasts of prey, on the veriest garbage ; that when hunger presses them sore, a dead horse is a treasure to them; and that being universally distrusted, they venture as little as possible into the haunts of men. Yet when they do come, they are not entirely useless members of society. The Hungarians are fond of music, and the Cygnanis almost universally cultivate that art; and I had fre- quent opportunities of observing, that in the court-yards of hotels, at watering-places, and in public gardens, whatever minstrels you find are of gipsy descent. 185 CHAPTER VII. KREUTZ. THE RUINED CASTLE. ^MR. CRAWFORD AND THE WALMODEN CUIRASSIERS. ^THE BISHOP's PARTY.— MARCH TO SHARNOWITZ.— SHEMNITZ. THE MINES. AUSTRIAN CAVALRY.— CUSTOMS OP THE ARMY. Our course, during the remainder of the day, continued to lie through the same valley, which gained, rather than lost, in point of beauty, by the gradual opening out of the hills on either side. It was clear, indeed, that we were ap- proaching the confines of the com country. For though the mountains to the right and left seemed, for a time, to grow more bold in their character, in front, the strath wound onwards with a still increasing extent. Moreover, the Graan became wider and more sullen at every mile in advance, even where his banks were surmounted by rocks and sloping eminences ; while the wood grew richer and deeper, and was composed of more massive trees than any which, as yet, we had encountered. Last of all,- the vine, of which, for a season, we had lost sight, re-appeared ; a sure sign that we should enter, by-and-by, upon the plains of Lower Hun- 186 KREUTZ. gary. I cannot say that we regretted this. Of the Slavonians, and their wild settlements, we had now beheld enough ; we desired to become acquainted with the Hungarians, — ^properly so called, — and with their cities. We reached Kreutz about six o'clock in the evening, and found that the corporal had not been inattentive to our wishes. An excellent quarter was provided for us, where, in due time, supper was served. Having settled this pointy and according to custom, changed our apparel, we strolled out, that we might take, while yet the daylight lingered, a survey of the exterior of things. We found that though, in point of size, Kreutz be little more than a village, it gives a title to one of the Hungarian bishop- rics; and that the bishop, who resides here, is owner of the place, as well as of a large tract of country round it. Moreover, evidences of the extent of his authwity were fumirfied by the appearance of several peasants, one of them a woman, who were sweeping the court-yard of the palace, when we looked into it, with logs and chains upon their ankles. Let me, how- ever, do justice to the ecclesiastical establish- Bient at Kreutz. I have not seen in Hungary a feudal village throughout which the signs of content, and of the absence of griping poverty. viarr to a buin. 187 were more manifest ;. and the afi^tionate defe« rence which its inhabitants appeared to pay to the inmates of the palace, satisfied me, that in the present instance, at all events, a churchman was not necessarily a bad landlord. Being somewhat fatigued with our exertions throughout the day, we went early to bed, and rising next morning refreshed and vigorous, pre- pared to make the most of it. We knew that we should meet our countryman and his brother- officers here by-and-by, but their arrival was not anticipated till noon at the earliest, and we could not afford to waste five precious hours within doors- Accordingly, having taken note, aa we came along, of a ruin near the village, which, on account both of its extent and situation, seemed to claim our notice, we resolved to devote the space which was now at our command, to an examination of it. A pleasant walk we had, crossing the Graan by a wooden bridge, and fol- lowing a path which conducted us through some rich meadows, from which the river flowed past us with a broad and rapid current ; and there were abundant traces of fertility and in- dustry everywhere. We passed a farm-house too, just such an edifice as one would expect to see standing alone in Somersetshire or Middle- sex, an extensive pile of brickwork, low, and 188 THE RUINED CASTLE. inlaid with beams of timber, having a court- yard and oflSees complete, as if for the accom- modation of an English yeoman. It was the first structure of the kind which had challenged our regards since we quitted home, and it eli- cited, in a proportionate degree, our admiration. By-and-by, a straggling hamlet, near which some extensive vineyards were spread out, greeted us at a fine bend in the river, and then the ruin was before us. It occupied the brow of a sloping green hill, which protruded, as it were, from the chain of mountains, and was connected with them by a long natural terrace, extremely narrow at the ridge. A more commanding position for a baronial residence, in times when the art of war was different from what it is now, cannot be conceived. It was nowhere overlooked for purposes of attack; and could be approached only in the sight of the garrison. We climbed the hill, — a work of some diffi- culty and labour even to us, and after various jfruitless efforts to penetrate through one of the breaches, were forced to make the circuit of the whole, and to seek out the principal gateway. It looked towards the mountains, was defended, as is usual in such edifices, by a barbacan, and conducted into a passage between two walls, of a width barely sufficient to permit the advance THE RUINED CASTLE. 189 of three men abreast. For the rest, we found this castle in the interior, as it had appeared to be when examined from without, as good a spe- cimen of a warlike chieftain's hold as can be imagined. The remains of the chapel were, in particular, very beautiful, with their tall and elegant Gothic pillars, here and there a niche still standing, and a fragment of the very altar left. But alders, and the wild briers, and nettles in profuse crops, were waving rankly among them; through which great masses of fallen masonry rendered it very difficult for us to push our way. There are no circumstances under which the spirit of reverie becomes so naturally dominant within us as when we are loitering amid objects which speak to us of the might of days that have passed away, and, as a necessary conse- quence, of the vanity of all earthly greatness. How melancholy, yet how instructive it was to scare the wild pigeon from her nest, which she had built beneath the curve of one of these dilapidated pillars. How sad to watch the pro-» gross of the lizard as he glided past, and sought his hole beneath the hearth of what had once been the great kitchen. It is true that we were without the means of linking the scene around us with any particular portion of the 190 EETUItN TO KREUTZ. glory of other years, for of the very name of the place, as well as of the family which used to inhabit there, we were ignorant. But visions of knights, and dames, and minstrels gay, rose before the eye of fancy, only that they might fade again like the images of a dream which may have connected us, vividly and pow- erfully for a moment, with a state of existence higher than our own. I plead guilty to the crime of having scribbled some forty or fifty verses with my pencil upon the wall of a recess ; but the reader need not take the alarm, they are not going to be inflicted upon him, for I have entirely forgotten them. We lingered amid these scenes a good half hour, looking forth from every accessible point on the noble landscape, that spread itself out beneath them, and then retraced our steps to Kreutz. The cuirassiers had arrived. Our countryman met us near the head of the bridge, and we became intimate and particular friends in a moment. I hope that, in reference to this as well as other intimacies formed during that ramble, the time may come when they shall be renewed. We had all along intended to pay our respects to tlie bishop, a-nd with this view hnd looked in at the palace-gate as we passed in the mora- VISIT TO THE BISHOP, 191 ing, but the prelate wsb then ^t mass, and we could not see him. Under the escort of Mr. Crawford we now repeated the attempt, which proved more successful. We were conducted by a domestic, in a hussar uniform, up a hand- some staircase, and along an extensive corridor, which ran round the whole extent of the build- 4 ing; till, arriving at a large folding door, it was thrown open, and we found ourselves in what appeared to be a spacious ante-room. Two priests, in their cassocks, were in waiting here, who received us very politely, and sent an attendant out of livery to inform the bishop of our arrival. He did not leave us long to be entertained by his chaplains ; for a third per- sonage, apparently a mattre d'h6tel, came forth almost immediately, and requested us to follow him. There was a good deal of state about the iepiscopal establishment, itnd an uir of dignity even in the palace. The latter, a square pile, enclosing a court-yard of some hundred and fifty feet diameter, appeared built rathar for conve* Tieoee tham fer show^-^that is to say, it wm of the dote, periiaps, oi a oe&tury ago, with large wiBdoim und coaraiseSy and ejMhbbed altogetber a fair ^tecnaen of iSaie Italian fityle of arebitec- ture, as it was thea applied to the reeidei^eB of 192 THE bishop's palace. the nobility. The chapel, which occupied one side of the square, was approached by a flight of broad steps, and had its porch, and statues, and iron gate, — the latter profusely gilded; while elsewhere round the basement ran a series of cloisters, not arched, but roofed in with solid beams of timber. Moreover there was a lodge, or guard-house, about which some armed retainers were lounging ; a prison, which I did not visit, but which was {)ointed out to me ; gardens, disposed into alleys ; enclosures, grottoes, fish-ponds, and every incentive to re- creation, as well physical as mental ; and men and women employed to keep them in order, some of them with chains round their ankles. Of one of their incentives to recreation, I am bound to make especial mention, because it seems to illustrate the sort of taste which the bishops of Kreutz sometimes cherish. There was in a particular part of the garden an alley, perhaps twenty or twenty-five yards long. At one extremity stood a summer-house, at the other a pole, having a popinjay, or figure of a cock, fastened to its upper extremity; and it was the bishop's practice to amuse himself by shooting at that mark through the window of the summer-house, — ^not with a rifle, but with a cross-bow and bolts of wood. INTRODUCED TO THE BISHOP. 193 The person who was now our guide led us across a vestibule, and through a door, into the apartment where the bishop was sitting. It was not large, but both the fitting-up and the furnishing were handsome ; that is to say, the floor was of highly polished oak, and the chairs and sofas were covered with rich tapestry. The bishop himself, an old man, arrayed in the tippet and gold chain of his order, bade us very heartily welcome, and would have fain per- suaded us to dine with him at noon ; but this, having made other arrangements, we declined, though we promised to be his guests at supper- time. Accordingly, after sitting a few minutes with him, and being introduced to his niece and one or two dignitaries of his cathedral, we took our leave, that we might form an acquaintance with Mr. Crawford's brother officers, and spend in their society the remainder of the day. I took occasion, while sketching with a rapid hand the nature of the Hungarian constitution, to state, that the bishops of Hungary take rank with the highest order of nobles, and sit and vote in meetings of the estates with the mag- nates. I have now to add, that the revenues of the sees are all of them ample, and some almost princely. The archbishop of Graan, for example, the primate of Hungary, enjoys an VOL. III. K 194 EPISCOPAL REVENUES. annual income of thirty-five thousand pounds sterling; the bishopric of Agram is esti- mated at thirteen thousand; that of Eslau at eight thousand. The Bishop of Kreutz is, I believe, the poorest of his order; yet his see returns him a revenue of twelve thousand florins, — ^that is, twelve hundred pounds sterling per annum. It must not, how- ever, be supposed, that the bishops are left to the quiet and exclusive enjoyment of their wealth. Besides that the king takes care, as has elsewhere been shown, to appropriate, at the demise of each, the larger portion of what may have been accumulated during the bishop's life- time, there is a burden imposed upon the sees of a peculiar nature, which is not, under any circumstances, rendered more light than need be. Strange to say, the bishoprics are taxed, — a solitary case in reference to the estates of the nobles, — ^for the purpose of keeping the prin- cipal fortresses in Hungary in repair. Neither is this done occasionally, as the works may have ftllen into decay, but year by year a demand is made upon them, and the deduction thereby effected from the episcopal incomes is, I am assured, very considerable. I say nothing of other expenses incident to the stations of the individuals, for these are to be counted upon SUP WITH THE BISHOP. 195 everywhere. Our own Bishop of Durham, for example, so long as the honours of the palatinate belonged to him, did not find that his revenues, ample as they were, accumulated on his hands. And the hospitalities of the Hungarian bishops, if they be less costly in detail, must, from their very extent, press with almost equal weight. We supped that night, according to engage- ment, with the Bishop of Kreutz. There was great abundance at his table, as well as a large assortment of guests, including many ladies, a dozen, at least, of ecclesiastics, civilians of aU degrees, and Mr. Crawford and ourselves; but I could detect no symptoms of profusion, nor the slightest arrogance of unnecessary state.. The old man took his place in the centre of the board, and did the honours heartily, while hi» friends paid the best possible compliment to the viands, by causing them to disappear with amazing rapidity. Here, however, I stop. I have no more right to violate the confidence of private life by detailing what passed in the family of a bishop, than if I were speaking of a layman. Enough is done when I state that our conversation, if not very intellectual, wasr abundantly animated ; that we carried it on partly in German, partly in Latin ; that we had quite as many questions to answer, as answers K 2 196 MARCH TO SHARNOWITZ to receive ; and that the information, commu- nicated by Mr. Crawford, that I was the son of an English (he ought to have said a Scottish) bishop, in no degree affected the good humour of our entertainers. "There are some excel- lent men among the English bishops," said a dignitary who sat opposite to me ; and I am bound to return the compliment, by avowing my belief that the Hungarian bench can boast its good men also. We slept that night at the inn, and soon after dawn were roused by the trumpets of the cuirassiers sounding to boot and saddle. It had been agreed that as our faces were turned in the same direction, we should accompany the troops at least for a stage or two ; and my friends having kindly undertaken to supply me with a horse, my young companion transferred himself, with the baggage, into Mr. Crawford's carriage. Accordingly a charger was brought Tound to the door, which I mounted, and the march began. How strange, yet how natural, were the feelings that came over me that day. I could have fancied myself in early youth again, with other and brighter years rolled back; when the present was a season of high and constant excitement, and oyer the future was shed the halo, — ^which was not destined to fulfil WITH THE WALMODEN CUIRASSIERS. 197 its promise. For the march of this little body of Austrian cavalry was, to the most minute particular, warlike and orderly. The advanced guard was thrown out, as if an enemy had been in our front ; a rear guard separated itself from the main body, to provide against an attack from behind, while connecting patrols and flankers were not neglected, nor any other of the precautions usually adopted when a recon- noissance is to be pushed forward. Moreover, the scenery through which we moved was quite in keeping with our style of travel. On our right the Graan held his course, with a broad and sullen current ; on our left, though sepa- rated from us by a considerable extent of plain, were the mountains ; which, closing in here and there, and being met by portions of the forest, produced just the sort of defiles, in threading which it would have been necessary to keep all our wits about us. And, as if to complete the delusion, — as if to carry me back to the period when it was my daily fortune to see the sun^ beams reflected back as they were now, from morion and casque, and bayonet and sabre,— the troopers began, all at once, to sing ; — one or two voices taking the lead, so as to give the time and air, and the rest joining, by- and-by, in most harmonious concert. It would 198 SHABNowrrz. be but the repetition of a truism if I were to say that there is no music comparable to that of the human voice, and I must be permitted to add that tte human voice is never heard to such advantage as under circumstances similar to those by which I was then sur- rounded. We had started in good time, and as the Austrians never overwork their cavalry by making the stages during a peaceful march unnecessarily long, we reached Shamowitz^ our halting-place for the day, at one o'clock- It is a prettily situated village on the banks of the Graan, and in the mouth of an opening among the hills, which have closed in, for some miles previously, on the valley, and render it here very narrow. I need not, however, pause to describe either the place or the manner in which, till dinner-time, we there amused our- selves. Our English fishing-tackle was called into play, and the Graan, as well as one of the tributary streams which fell into him, beside the village, were forced to render up some of their occupants, — of which neither the worth nor the weight were remarkable. Shamowitz or Zsarocz (for such is the ap- proved method of spelling the word,) is situated on one side of a range of bold hills, among SCHEMNITZ. 199 which lies Schemnitz, the principal station in what are called the mining districts of Hungary. We were naturally desirous of seeing a place concerning which we had heard a great deal ; and as our young countryman happened to be, like ourselves, a stranger to its locality, we agreed that it would be a pleasant arrangement were we to visit it together. Accordingly, having procured a couple of ponies, by the con, venient process of forstban, we harnessed them to Mr. Crawford's carriage, and about six o'clock in the evening set out. The drive was in every respect a delightfiil one. To be sure the road* was steep, and here and there indifferent ; for after traversing the narrow strath, it took a direction up the very face of the hills ; but of mountain scenery the eye never grows weary, and we found it here in perfection. There was one point of view in particular, where we looked down upon a small melancholy lake, — a pool of water sunk so completely among overhanging rocks and forests, that the sun's rays can never reach it, which struck me as being equal to any thing which I had yet encountered. Neither did the first appearance of Schemnitz itself disappoint us. Almost immediately on gaining the ridge of the mountain, we beheld the town crowded into a basin at our feet, — ^with here 200 MINING IN HUNGARY. and there a mass of building climbing up the fece of a hill, and temples and shrines crowning the eminences above them; and as the last rays of a setting sun fell upon, and lighted up the panorama, I am bound to say that the effect was very fine. We stopped the horses a few minutes, that we might admire it, and then drove to the hotel. I need scarcely pause to state that, among the hills round Schemnitz are found gold, silver, lead, and copper ; and that the galleries which have been excavated run to an amazing extent through the mountains. Some of them, too, are of a date so remote, that it is impossible to trace them to their beginnings ; for we can say of them only that they were wrought in the time of the Romans. Of others the authentic records carry us back through eight centuries ; while each successive age, from that period downwards, has witnessed some addition to them. It would appear, however, that the zeal of the miners has not been adequately rewarded, inasmuch as both gold and silver are becoming, from year to year, more scarce ; indeed the quantity of the former metal now procured, hardly covers the expense of digging for it, and the smelting and coining are a dead loss. But in searching for gold, both silver and copper MINING IN HUNGARY. 201 are found, so that the work still goes on ; while the hope is not yet laid aside, that by-and-by some fresh veins of the sister ore will be dis- covered. In Hungary, as in Germany, all minerals found beneath the earth's surface belong to the crown, and all mining establishments are of royal foundation and management. Not that private adventurers are hindered from engaging in similar undertakings as a speculation ; for even at Schemnitz the period is not distant since a large portion of the work was executed upon contract. But here, as well as in Saxony, mining is regarded as an art, the cultivation of which it is the business of the government, by all possible means, to promote. Hence, we have in both countries seminaries or schools for miners; such as that of Freyberg, near Dresden, and Schemnitz, in Hungary. The latter is on a scale much more extended thaiii the former. At its head is the Oberst Kau- mer Graff, an officer of exalted rank in the imperial service, who enjoys a liberal salary,^ and has an official residence assigned him; while each mine has its Bergrath, or head man. and each shaft its Oberkiinst Meister, or super- intendent of machinery. The operative miners, again, who wear a particular uniform, and hold K 3 202 THE MINES their heads exceedingly high in their respective stations, pursue their labours under an organized responsibility, than which that of an army can- not be more complete. Indeed, the spirit of the establishment is altogether military, inso- •much that you need but put arms into the hands of the people, and you would have a military force in a moment. The stranger who may be desirous of visiting these mines, will repair first to the residence of the Bergrath ; where, after having sundry spe- cimens of minerals exhibited to him, he will be supplied with a miner's dress. It is not the handsome dark green garb which may have attracted his notice while traversing the streets, but trousers and coat of coarse materials ; with a leathern apron so buckled on as that it shall shelter the wearer, not in front, as may be anticipated, but behind. Thus clothed, with a high cap on his head, he proceeds to the mouth of the gallery, where three or four men, each with a lamp in his hand, stand ready to attend him ; and he is by them conducted, amid all the customary alternations of wet and dry, and rough and smooth, through labyrinths that appear to be endless. As he advances, ma- chinery is pointed out to him here and there, — wheels, and cylinders, and all the other instru- AT SCHEMNITZ. 203 ments by which mining operations are carried on ; but to describe which in detail would b6 as little interesting to the general reader, as it would be wearisome in the extreme to myself. Finally, after descending by ladders into an abyss deeper than before, where the whole process of digging, and clearing away water, and ventilating, and propping-up, is explained, he returns to his first level, and discovers, to his surprise, that it is very skilfully arranged as a railroad. It is by means of this line, and of the wagons that ply upon it, that the ore as it is procured passes on to the smelting houses ; and the civility of the miners leads them to enlarge its sphere of usefulness, by rendering it instru- mental to the convenience of their visitors. In one of these vehicles you are requested to take a seat ; and then, by the merest touch of the hand, a workman pushing from behind, you are hurried, at a good round rate, over a space of at least three-quarters of an English mile. Thus driven along, you catch, by-and-by, the glimmer of daylight at a distance ; and, lo! atquiteadif* fereut part of the mountain from that by which you made your ingress, the mine may be said to eject you. Besides the mines themselves, the model* room, where miniature specimens of the diffe* 204 THE MINING SCHOOL rent kinds of macliinery in use are exhibited, will amply repay the labour of a visit. It is not large, neither are the models numerous; and even my imperfect acquaintance with me- chanics sufficed to convince me that, in many respects, the Hungarian engineers have yet much to learn ; but the implements themselves are very neatly constructed, and the officer in charge of them appears every way competent to explain their uses. I cannot say so much in commendation of the museum, or of the col- lection of minerals with which it is enriched. The fact, indeed, I believe to be, that there is no great variety in the mineral productions of the district in and around Schemnitz ; and as the collector has not travelled beyond his own immediate neighbourhood for the purpose of enriching his cabinet, a cursory glance is all that a mere visitor will care to bestow upon it. Nothing can be more liberal than the foot- ing on which the mining school or college at Schemnitz is conducted. It is, as I have said, a royal foundation, where every person who has obtained the sanction of the Board of Mines in Vienna, (and I believe that it has never been refused,) may have all the practical information which works so exten- OF SCHEMNITZ. 205 sive can afford. A complete course of study occupies three whole years, which must be attended to by such as desire employment as ojBScers in mines; while the examinations which occur, both during the progress, and at the termination of the course, are said to be severe; but amateurs are not thereby excluded. It is competent for them either to go forward to the end of the term, or to quit the seminary at any moment when their own convenience may require. The subjects, again, on which lectures are delivered, are chemistry, mineralogy, mathematics, mechanics, natural philosophy in most of its branches, plain draw- ing, mapping, the construction and use of machinery, as well as botany, and every other species of knowledge which is connected with the growth and preservation of timber. This science, which the Germans call Forstwissen- schaft, is of great importance in countries which depend for their fuel entirely on the forests ; and it is doubly important in the mining district^ where, in the construction of shafts, and the preservation of galleries, so much wood is con- sumed. Moreover, the students are admitted to the free use of the laboratory, and have cour stant access to all that may be in progress, both in the mines, and in the smelting and preparar 206 SCHEMNITZ. tion of the ore. They are encouraged, likewise, in making collections of minerals for their own use, though prohibited, on pain of expulsion, from selling what they collect; and as they generally form themselves into little groups or bands for the purpose, the advantages which they derive from the practice are considerable. I made particular inquiry into the personal habits of these young men, both in their public and private proceedings; and it is but an act of justice to record, that they were everywhere well spoken of. Concerning the exact num- bers who belong to their body, I cannot speak ; but it seemed to be considerable, and the ten- dency, as I was assured, is towards a constant increase. Of the town itself, I have not much to say. Scattered along the side of the moun- tain, its streets are all steep and irregular ; for the very market-place lies upon the slope of an inclined plane; nor is there, within its compass, a single building which the traveller would care to examine. Yet is the general effect striking, and some shrines and temples with which the pious have surmounted the conical hills that look down upon it, pre- sented a handsome appearance as seen from a distance. Like Kremnitz, it is a Ger- KOESINTZ. 207 man colony of standing long anterior to the union of the crowns of Austria and Hungary, and its inhabitants still speak the language which their ancestors brought with them, when centuries ago they sought a home in the land of strangers. A morning well spent having sufficed to bring these matters under our observation, we returned after a late dinner to our quarter at Sharnowitz. Our friends, the cuirassiers, were still there, for the day which we occupied so profitably, had by them been devoted to refresh- ment ; and on the morrow, our march towards the low country was resumed. It carried us> pretty much in the order of the movement from Kreutz, to Koesintz, — a village more extensive than either of those which we had previously occupied, and beside which there was a small cavalry barrack, or rather chateau, fitted up by government, for the accommodation of a squad-* ron of horse. Here we found another strong troop established, with a considerable accession to the number of officers ; and at the head of all, a very gentlemanlike and good soldier. Lieu- tenant-colonel Schaffisoach. Of the same hospi- tality which had been extended to us heretofore, we were again made to partake. An apartment in the barrack was allotted to us ; we lived with 208 THE AUSTRIAN ARMY. the officers as members of their mess, and spent that day and a portion of the next, very agree- ably in their company. I do not know whether my good fortune directed me to form an acquaintance with the very best regiment in the Austrian service, but I am bound to state, that I have nowhere en- countered a finer set of young men, than those whom I met at dinner this day. They were all gentlemen, in the best sense of the term, yet soldiers too, — well-bred, well-informed, enthu- siasts in their profession, and just as ready to communicate as to receive information, as well in reference to military affairs, as on sub- jects of more general interest. I could gather, indeed, from what passed, that the line of dis- tinction between the cavalry and infantry service, in the Austrian army, is very broadly marked. The regiments of infantry being quartered chiefly in towns, where large garrisons are kept up, and hospitality is little dispensed, seldom come into collision, at least in the inferior ranks, with the aristocracy of the land. The cavalry, on the contrary, as it is scattered through vil- lages and hamlets, wherever the convenience of forage may invite, affords the very best op- portunities for a species of intercourse, without which men's manners become almost unavoid- THE CAVALRY. 209 ably rough and awkward. At every country- house, at least in Hungary, an officer is a wel- come guest ; and if he contribute, by his know- ledge of the world, and the spirit with which he joins them in the dance and promenade, to amuse the ladies of the family, he receives from them in return, a benefit much more important, — a refinement in tastes and bearing which never comes except from having mixed while young, in the society of right-minded and well-bred women. Hence, as well as because the service is attended with heavier expenses, you find that the cavalry of the Austrian empire is almost exclusively officered by men of family ; the infantry, by a more mixed class, in which the aristocracy do not preponderate. A regiment of cavalry in the Austrian service has besides its proprietor (always a general offi- cer), a colonel, a lieutenant-colonel, and a major ; to each of whom is committed, in an especial manner, a squadron, three squadrons composing the corps. When all are united, which occurs only for two months in the year, the colonel assumes, of course, the general command ; while the troops lie scattered through their quarters, each field-officer is responsible for the efficiency of his own squadron. In like manner, each squadron consists of two troops, and each troop 210 THE CADETS. of two half-troops, — ^the troop having at its head one first captain, one second captain, with two first, and as many second lieutenants. Its or- ganization, both when united and dispersed, agrees exactly with that of the squadron. If brought together, the first captain is responsible for the whole; if broken up, he shares that responsibility with the second captain. And to render the system perfect, both first and second lieutenants have their respective sections, over which their control is absolute. Thus from the very outset of his career an oflScer is accustomed to exercise the power, and wield the responsi- bility, of separate command ; — an order of things which seems of all others the best calculated to confirm his moral courage, as well as to sharpen his faculties. Every gentleman enters the Austrian service as a cadet, and his promotion depends not only on the chance of vacancies, but on the degree of intelligence and military capacity which he may exhibit. I found, for example, that our friend Mr. Crawford had served as a cadet little more than a year and a-half, whereas another countryman of ours had been five years in that station, and bade fair, if not sent about his busi- ness, to continue in it five years longer. Then comes promotion by[seniority in the corps, or by THE PRIVATES. 211 the exercise of powerful influence out of it ; of which the effects are to render the ascent to the rank of a field-officer a very tedious affair ; to the more elevated steps in the ladder, both easy and rapid. Lieutenant-colonel Schaffcoach, for example, had served in the War of Libera- tion as a captain, and had not attained his majority till the year 1835. But less than two years had advanced him from the rank of major to that of lieutenant-colonel, and he anticipated, ere two years more were gonoi* that he should become colonel-in-chief. Meanwhile the privates, gathered in by the species of conscription which was once universal throughout Germany, have not much to expect. They are furnished in the mass by the proprie- tors on whose lands they reside, and must go when the lot falls upon them. They are not however, as was formerly the case in Prussia, soldiers for life. On the contrary, the conscript is enrolled for fourteen years only, at the expi- ration of which he is entitled to his discharge ; but if he accept it he receives no pension, unless, indeed, he be quite disabled. He merely goes back to his village, and his daily toil, with habits very little suited to either. If, on the other hand, he desire to continue with his regiment, and the commanding officer be in- 212 PAY AND ALLOWANCES. clined to accede to his wishes, the tender of his service is accepted. But it is distinctly under- stood, that he can never earn a claim to a pen- sion. Whoso receives such, receives it as a free boon from his sovereign ; and it rarely ex- ceeds five kreutzers, or two pence sterling, per day. I saw with the Walmoden cuirassiers, a seijeant who had worn harness for half a cen- tury, and was then seventy years old. He was proposing, by-and-by, to retire, with the esteem and regard of of which both the Romans ^d the Turks, alike addicted to the luxury of bathing, failed not — each nation in its turn — ^to make use. Of the Roman baths, only broken fragments remain; but of those which owe their existence to the Turks, three are in a state of high preservation, the largest of which lies under the Blocksberg, about a couple of hundred yards from the head of the bridge. It is a fine thing in its way,— • of thoroughly Saracenic architecture, and there is a Turkish inscription near the entrance, to mark both its uses and origin. You enter by a low door, and find yourself in an apartment so obscured by sulphureous vapours as to render 248 THE BATHS. the sense of sight well-nigh useless, and the re- spiration itself for a time uncomfortable. By- and-by, when the vision becomes accustomed to the gloom, you see that there is a huge tank in the middle of the area, in which persons of all ages and sexes are floundering about, most of them in a state of pure nature. Then, again, you have people in all the stages of preparation, dressing, undressing, and luxuriating in the steam that floats around, and which, condensing against the roof, returns in large drops to the ground, so as effectually to supply the place, on your garments, of a heavy shower of rain. The persons who frequent this bath are, as may be imagined, of the very humblest order ; and the squalor of their appearance, as well as the dis- agreeable atmosphere of the place, render you eager to escape again into the open air with as little delay as possible. Somewhat lower down the course of the Danube, but still sheltered by the Blocksberg, are the baths which the higher classes of society frequent. They are abundantly commodious; but being of modern construction, differ in no essential respect from similar establishments elsewhere. The charge for each ablution is moderate ; and a band of music plays in the court-yard all day long, for the amusement of the bathers. THE SUBURB OF RATZINSTADT. 249 From these more aristocratic baths, you ascend by a winding foot-path, through a mean suburb called Ratziustadt, to the summit of the hill on which the observatory has been planted. The suburb in question derives its name from the Batzin, a colony of Slavonians who emigrated into Hungary from Servia about four hundred years ago, and used exclusively to dwell in this settlement. It was burned down, however, in 1810 ; and having since been rebuilt, is now inhabited by a mixed race of Slavonians and Hungarians. Of the observatory itself, there is nothing to be said, except that the instru- ments are good, and that the professors ia charge, knowing well how to use them, are not. idle in their vocation. But of the view which is obtained from the brow of the Blocksberg, every visitor must speak with admiration. Rising sheer and well-nigh abrupt from the bed of the Danube to a height of perhaps four hundred feet, it opens out to you a survey of a large portion of the great Hungarian plain,^ from the fatigue of tracing which you may find refreshment at any moment by merely turning round, and gazing upon the low but picturesque and vine-clad hills, of which the Blocksberg is at once the boldest and the last. Then, again, the river flows at your feet, so as that you may M 3 250 OFEN AND PESTH. trace him both upwards and downwards for many miles; the bridge of boats which con- nects his opposite banks, appears alive with the crowds that are continually passing: on this side is Ofen, full of architectural anomalies, yet from that very circumstance an object, to you, of peculiar interest : on the other, Pesth, laid out in all the regularity of street, and square, and mall, and public garden. There is not a greater contrast between the old and new towns of Edinburgh, than between Pesth — a city of yesterday's growth, — and Buda, the ancient capital of the Magyars. The one wan- ders from terrace to terrace, in dark and dingy masses, or stretches in a long line wherever between the river and the bases of the hill, a space of level ground can receive it; the other, a series of streets which cross each other at right angles, shines in all the splendour of a plan rigidly adhered to, and materials the best cal- culated to preserve an appearance of uniformity even in the separate edifices. Moreover, there is much bustle of shipping and porterage at the quays. In addition to a flotilla of barges and light craft, there were, when we looked down upon it, two large steam-boats moored ; the one above, the other below the bridge, as if waiting to complete their cargoes, in order that they might proceed, in different directions, on their OF£N AND PESTH* 251 voyage. In a word, we beheld on one bank of the Danube an accurate representation of the mingled pomp and squalor of the middle ages ; on the other, a perfect specimen of modem civilization, a city throughout the extent of which the eye could detect signs only of that universal refinement, somewhat overdone, which is the characteristic of the common-place age in which we live. After enjoying the scene till it had become, in some sort, familiar to us, we descended from our mountain throne, and crossing the bridge, made for the nearest of the excellent hotels for which Pesth is distinguished, — the Jag^ Horn. In us it excited no surprise, to find that while we were permitted to pass the Imu> riers unquestioned, aU persons dressed like peasants were charged a pontage ; because we had already been made aware of that peculiarity in the Hungarian constitution, which imposes all the public burdens on the class which. is least able to bear them. But it was very grati- fying to learn, as in the course of our sojourn at Pesth, we did, that this odious distinction will shortly be put an end to. There was a project in contemplation, which like all the real improvements in this country, originated with Count Szechenzi, for superseding th^ 252 THE BRIDGE OF BOATS. bridge of boats by a solid stone structure ; and it had, from the first, constituted a part of his plan, that pontage should be levied upon all parties in crossing, whether they be of noble or ignoble birth. As was to be expected, the proposition met with violent opposition ; but Count Szechenzi's perseverance overcame every obstacle; and the point has at length been conceded. I believe, indeed, that a con- tract has been since entered into with an English architect, to execute the bridge ; and it seems to be admitted on all hands, that the practice adopted at Pesth will furnish a prece- dent for the whole of Hungary; which will thus have taken a most important step towards the deliverance of its people from the pressure of usages every way inimical to the developement of their intelligence and their power. I am not going to describe Pesth; why, in- deed, should I ? Mr. Quin has forestalled me in everything, which in description would be cal- culated to amuse ; and even Mr. Quin has not had the field entirely to himself. Enough is done, when I state that all that was worth seeing, we saw. We put our names down at the Casino, and were liberally admitted to the privileges of membership ; we inspected the new barrack; an enormous pile, en- THE MUSEUM. 253 closing four courts, each of which might pass anywhere for the principal square of a city ; we wandered through the quadrangle of the University, which, though empty when we saw it, furnishes, during the session, accommodation and gratuitous instruction to a thousand stu- dents ; we looked into the Museum, and saw much both to admire and to condemn. The collection of Hungarian coins is excellent ; and there are some curious remains of antiquity, — such as pottery, bronzes, weapons, and other implements, all of them Roman, and all found within the limits of the kingdom, but they are ill arranged. The naturalist, too, will scarce turn his back upon the minerals, however con- fused and neglected, nor the geologist upon the fossil remains of mammoth, mastodon, and other antediluvian animals; all of native growth. Yet why venture into a detailed ac- count of these things ? They were exceedingly interesting to behold ; — ^I do not think that by mere description, I could render them at all interesting to the reader. We had not the good fortune to be present at any of the fairs which occur four times in every year at Pesth ; and which, bringing thither an influx of strangers from all quarters, enable the visitor to familiarise himself with the ever 254 VAMED COSTUMES. varying costumes, and not less diversified ap- pearances of the tribes which compose the popu- lation of Hungary. Even in wandering through the streets, however, and they are wide, and clean, and spacious, we saw enough to con- vince us that we had penetrated well-nigh to the extremity of Christendom. Here was a priest of the Greek church, with his blue cloth robe, his long beard, and his head surmounted by a half-mitre, half-turban. There was the old noble, cloaked and moustached, and wear- ing his silver-mounted sabre by his side. By- and-by came a peasant, his sombrero hat drawn over his brow, his coarse woollen cloak covering his shoulders, and reaching down well-nigh to the knee, over his tight worsted hosen- Next a domestic servant, arrayed like a hussar, with laced jacket, tight pantaloons, and hessian boots ; anon a Catholic priest in his canonicals ; in a word, dresses of all sorts, from the com- mon garb of the Englishman, up to the flowing mantle of the Turk, and down to the half- nakedness of the gipsy. In like manner, I have everything to say in commendation of the excellency of the shops, and the gay and attrac- tive signs which surmounted them. There is one in particular, — a tobacconist's, I forget in what street, over whose door a painting of a COUETS OF JUSTICE. 255 Hungarian noble is suspended, which would do no discredit to our exhibition, as I remember it, at least, in Somerset House. The population of Pesth has been computed at one hundred thousand souls ; that of Ofen at thirty thousand. As the latter is the chief seat of political authority, so in the former, the supreme court of justice holds its sittings. It is termed indifferently the Konigliche Tafel^ and Septemviral Tafel, the former word signi- fying the Royal Table ; the latter, the Table of Seven; but the seven members which used to compose it are now multiplied into twenty-one, and include the palatine, four prelates^ nine magnates, and seven of the inferior nobles. Up to the period when we were in Pesth, all thQ proceedings, both in this and the other courts of justice, were conducted in Latin ; that is to say, in Latin the depositions were taken, and the sentence registered ; but I have reason to be- lieve that the use of the old Roman tongue is now laid aside ; or if not, that its abolition is resolved npon. This is another of Count Szechenzi's projects, that in the transaction of public business, the Magyar, or Hungarian, shall be exclusively used ; and though a large majority of the population, including all the Transylvanians, the Slavonians, and Croatians, 266 PARTIALITY OF THE HUNGARIANS are against him, he calculates, without fail, on success. The Hungarians are, it must be allowed, a very fine people. The peasantry seem to be small of stature, and slenderly made ; but the gentry are well-grown, robust, and active, and delight- ing in all the field-sports which are familiar to ourselves, have in most of them made us their models, even to their very dresses. I am assured that the race-course at Rokosfeld, for example, a plain about five miles distant from the city, might, by him who looks only to the equipment of jockeys, and their employers, be mistaken, with perfect ease, for Newmarket: while, in the foxhounds imported hither en masse from England, and the field which goes forth with them, a meeting on the Curragh of Kildare, or even the Melton Mowbray, is veiy fairly reflected. It rarely happens, how- ever, that one people imitates another in their sports, without carrying their predilections much further. The English are decided fa- vourites in Hungary, where, by-the-by, the jealousy of Russia is as bitter, and as strong, as the most nervous alarmist of the Czar's growing influence need desire. When we were at Pesth, the capture of the Vixen formed a fhiitfiil topic of conversation in all circles ; and the disincli- FOR THE ENGLISH. 257 nation exhibited in London to break at once with the power which had perpetrated the outrage, was loudly condemned. Nor were the Hungarians content to murmur and complain : they broadly asserted, that the whole affair had been settled beforehand, between Lord Pal- merston and the Autocrat; that the latter having failed by open negotiation to obtain a recognition of his right to blockade the Circas- sian coast, took this method of surreptitiously accomplishing his purpose, and that the former, by encouraging Mr. Bell to undertake the expedition, and afterwards refusing to support him, had played into the emperor's hands. " The fact is," continued one of the many who dis- cussed the subject with me, " the fact is, that though Lord Palmerston could not venture, in the first instance, to sanction so gross an act of tyranny, because he knew that your parliament would not support him, he trusted to the gene- ral inclination for peace which prevails in the House of Commons, to carry him through in his refusal to resent even this insult. We can't tell what you are to gain by it ; but one thing is certain, that we are grievous sufferers ; because had you stirred we should have taken advantage of your presence, to rid ourselves of the intruders in the island of Salina, by whom, 258 STYLE OF LIVING IN PESTH. without the co-operation of your fleet, our commerce must, in a great degree, be held in check. Is it possible that there can exist in England any jealousy of our trade, feeble as it is?" It was to little purpose that we combated this idea, or attributed the untoward event to other causes. They could not believe that England was afraid to go to war with Russia, and persisted in believing that a base plot had been concocted, to which, not only the Czar and Lord Palmerston, but the owner of the captured vessel himself, was a party. I can well believe that, during the busy months of the year, Pesth deserves all the com- mendation which both natives and foreigners are accustomed to bestow upon it. Of the domestic habits of the population I am, indeed, incompetent to speak, for I had no opportunities of forming a judgment respecting them. But the hotels are both clean and commodious, and the style of living more decidedly refined than I have met with anywhere out of London, Pa- ris and Vienna alone excepted. Moreover, in the library, which is attached to their national Museum, the student will find ample resources, especially if his tastes lead him to the inves- tigation of matters connected with Hungarian SCHEME OF FUTURE TRAVEL. 259 history ; for it is rich in records, both printed and manuscript, almost all of which> being in the Latin language, are accessible to every scholar. I lament that circumstances should have so controlled my movements, as to carry me thither at a season when, almost all with whom it would have been mojst agreeable to converse, had abandoned the city; yet, I am bound to declare, that the few days which I spent in Pesth were spent very pleasantly ; and that I quitted it, at their termiAation, not with- out regret. We had heard so much, while sojourning among our ixiends of the Walmoden cuiras- siers, concerning the peculiar organization of society in what are called the Granz ComitateSi that we determined to pass by them into Italy: in other words, to descend the Danube as far as Semlin, to penetrate through the military eountries to Trieste, and, crossing the Gulf of Venice, to be regulated in our future proceed- ings by the time, and means, and humour which might then be at our disposal. Accord- ingly, having exhausted our curiosity, in refer- ence to Pesth, we took our places in a steam- boat, which was to sail betimes next day, for Constantinople^ and supping quietly in the Speisen Saal of the Jager Horn, went early to 260 EMBARK IN THE STEAM-BOAT. bed. Sound and refreshing is the sleep which follows and rises out of personal exertion ; and ours that night forsook us not; till, at two o'clock in the morning, the groom of the cham- bers entered to announce, that the hour of sailing was at hand. There was no necessity on his part to repeat the statement. We were afoot in an instant: and, having taken care to pack our knapsacks ere we lay down, in five minutes we were in a condition to set forth. I do not know how far I may carry with me the interest of others while I attempt to de- scribe a scene which in its j^rogress highly inte- rested myself. I say nothing of the little bustle which is everywhere attendant on the transfer of passengers and their luggage from a hotel to a steam-boat. Early as was the hour, the trifling space that intervenes between the Jager Horn and the river, presented for a while the appearances which are usual on such occasions : that is to say, porters jostled each other ; tra- vellers urged them to increased expedition ; and a crowd of idlers, thronging the gangway, in- terrupted both. But all this came in the ordi- nary course of events. It was after we had fairly established ourselves that the curtain may be said to have risen, and that there was exhibited SCENE ON BOARD. 261 before us a diorama, to which each successive moment gave, as it were, a novel character. When we first planted ourselves at the ex- treme stern of the ship, rejoicing in the light equipment which enabled us to do so conve- niently, the darkness was such as to render surrounding objects, even the nearest, indis- tinct; while those which might be removed from us by a few yards, were quite obscured. Along the banks of the Danube, indeed, on either side, as well as throughout the extent of the bridge of boats, and such of the streets as led to it, the gleam of a few lamps wavered doubt- fully ; but there was no moon in the heavens, nor any stars visible, inasmuch as a dense fog hung over the city, and enveloped it as with a curtain. The darkness which prevailed in every other direction was complete. All thQ straining which our eyeballs underwent, suf- ficed only to make us aware of the flitting hither and thither of dusky forms, which seemed for a while to crowd the deck to positive incon- venience, and to give slender promise of com- fort during the voyage. By degrees, however, the vision appeared to become familiarized to the gloom. Objects near at hand grew less and less hazy in their outlines, the throng seemed to diminish ; and, lo ! in the far east 262 VIEW OF THE CITY. there was a pale and sickly tinge, the first flicker of the dawn that ushers in the day! How magnificent was the effect of the gradual expan- sion of that tinge ! As the sky reddened, hill, tower, mansion, river, seemed to rejoice in its glory. Now there was before us a mass of things, strangely and wildly thrown together. Now each took a definite shape, which became, instant by instant, more accurate. Streets might be traced, like lines on a huge map ; the observatory looked down upon us ; the fortress and viceregal lodge stood forward in something like their proportions; and finally, there lay, in the perfect quiet of the early morning, Ofen and Pesth, with the Danube rolling his waters between; — ^all as still, all as completely exempt from other indications of human presence than our own busy vessel afforded, as if the scene had been one in the land of dreams, or that a pestilence had recently swept over the city, and spared no one in its wrath. I have watched for the coming of day frequently, and that too under circumstances much more calculated, as might be imagined, to solemnize and excite; yet I do not recollect that the occurrence ever affected me more deeply than it affected me then ; — no, not even when I have stood beside an armed band, with the sort of vague and OUR FELL0W-PASSENGEB8. 263 half-formed conviction on my mind that, in all human probability, I should never watch for it again. We were enjoying the scene with the inten- sity which it was calculated to excite, when a gun, the signal for sailing, was fired ; and all whose business or inclination led them not to bear us company, hurried on shore. It was no source of lamentation to perceive, that the numbers of such were considerable; and that we were left, in consequence, with a very mo- derate train to prosecute our voyage. It con- sisted, besides ourselves, of two ladies, both of them Hungarian, and their attendants; of a young noble and his tutor, an intelligent but eccentric man, who had spent some time in England ; of another noble and his lady ; an English Jew and his wife, a native of Ply- mouth; a young Austrian, with several indi- viduals besides, who, playing no very marked part in the little drama, have long ago be^i forgotten. Then, again, there was the captain, a native of Florence, a singularly handsome man; of very agreeable manners, and nowise disposed to nnderrate his own aocomplishments. An excellent linguist, he could converse with facility in Italian, English, Geiman, French, Spanish, and even Hungarian. I do not know 264 VOYAGE DOWN THE DANUBE. what his merits might be as a seaman, but his attention to his passengers was throughout un- remitting, and he earned for himself in conse- quence golden opinions everywhere, especially among the fairer portion of the creation. I am not going to give any details of " a steam-voyage down the Danube." Ours, like that which has been so well described already, brought with it much to excite amusement and something to produce inconvenience; for the scenery around was interesting by reason of its novelty of character, and the manners of those with whom we were thrown into such intimate connexion, pleased us greatly. Nothing, indeed, could be more imposing in its way than the enormous plain over which, both to the right and left, the eye ranged freely. No living objects could have more entirely harmonized with it than the strange gipsy-looking men who were seen at various points, lounging by the water's edge, in observation, as it appeared, of certain herds of cattle and wild ponies that were browsing far and near, as if in a state of nature. Then, again, the floating mills, of which Mr. Quin speaks ; the troops of horses, plunging and capering, as by thirties and fifties in a string, they dragged barges and larger craft against the current of the Danube ; the out- VOYAGE DOWN THE DANUBE. 265 landish bearing of the peasants who drove them, each mounted upon his favourite animal, and each attending exclusively to the operations of his own gang, whatever might be its numerical strength ; these, as one after another the course of the voyage brought them before us, were observed and commented upon with all becom- ing eagerness. It must be confessed, however, that, though exceedingly interesting for awhile, a panorama such as this soon palls upon you. The eye grows wearied with resting upon a broad river, banked in by heaps of mud and groves of willows ; through the openings in which are seen portions of a huge flat, — ^rich, doubtless, and productive, but apparently in- terminable. You pine for something more definite, — some mountain range, or town, or castle, or village ; and on the Danube, even as elsewhere, your longing receives, in due time, its accomplishment. Throughout the early part of the day, the scene was, in every respect, such as I have described it ; towards noon it under- went a change, which became, from time to time, more marked, and proportionably more agree- able. When you have passed Folvar, and Paks, and Tolna, the three most important places which greet you during the first six hours of VOL. III. N 266 THE FIELD OF MOHACS. your voyage, you enter upon a portion of the Danube, which, after twisting and turning about through a prodigious swamp, carries you into a region, at once picturesque in its external appearance, and singularly crowded with monu- ments of Hungarian story. Conspicuous among these is Mohacs, the scene of two mighty con- tests, in which the Cross and the Crescent met with alternate success : for in the former, fought in 1526, the Moslem entirely prevailed ; in the latter, which occurred just one hundred and sixty years afterwards, he sustained a signal defeat. It is curious enough, that in pointing to the field of strife our Hungarian acquain- tances spoke only of the former of these battles. The triumphs of Prince Eugene and Charles of Lorraine seemed to have, in their eyes, no inte- rest whatever, when compared with the death of their own Lewis II. and the conquests of Solyman the Magnificent ; nor, perhaps, is the circumstance greatly to be wondered at, when we take into account the strong and laudable nationality of feeling which is inherent in the Hungarian character. Prince Eugene and Charles of Lorraine were both foreigners, and if they did free Hungary from the Turkish yoke, it was to establish the dominion of an Austrian over it. Lewis II. fell in a struggle to main- THE FIELD OF MOHACS. 267 tain the independence of a crown, as yet un- connected with any other sovereignty. More- over there was something peculiarly chivalrous and melancholy in the death of Louis. With thirty thousand men, the elite of the Magyar chivalry, he attacked Solyman at the head of two hundred thousand, and he perished in t swamp, into which, with a handful of fugitives, the tide of battle swept him. The swamp still exists near the village of Czetze, and is difiK tinctly visible from the riven For some little time before we reached Mo- hacs, the country on the right bank of the Danube had beccmie more bold and varied; and now, for awhile, there were undulations here and there, amid which villages, and towns, and chateauxs, lay very prettily. We were^ much surprised, moreover, to find, that the population seemed everywhere on the alert. As we approached each village it sent forth its inhabitants in crowds, who saluted us with dis- charges of cannon and musketry from the river's bank, and a display of most multifar rious ensigns. On inquiring into the cause of this bustle, I learned that Count EiStedliazy, a cousin, I believe, of the Prince, had just been elected vicegespan, or lord-lieutenant of his own coimty; and that the good people^ N 2 268 ANCHOR FOR THE NIGHT. expecting his arrival among them by the steam- boat, were waving their flags in order to testify their satisfaction at the event. It was hardly fair to permit the delusion to continue, inas- much as once, at least, we lay-to within hail of the shore ; but both the captain and his pas- sengers appeared to enjoy the joke, and the process of saluting went on as heretofore. I have alluded to certain inconveniences which attend a steam voyage down the Danube. They are experienced mainly after sunset ; for the steam-vessels are not furnished with sleep- dng accommodations of any sort, and you are -obliged to pass a night at anchor. Now, though ^to bivouac for a few hours can hardly be ac- counted a hardship, whether these hours be spent on a hair cushion in the cabin, or under •the shelter of your cloak upon the deck ; yet ^he grievance becomes serious when you find, as in either situation you soon do, that every assailable part of your body is given up as a prey to swarms of insects. If you establish yourself below, armies of fleas attack you ; if you endeavour to escape from them by retreat- ing to the deck, clouds of mosquitoes from the swampy shore threaten to eat you up. I have no hesitation to say, that the night which I passed on the Danube was about as comfortless RESUME THE VOYAGE. 26& a portion of my existence as I recollect any- where to have spent, and that the memory of it comes over me, at this moment, with a fresh- ness which is by no means agreeable. With the first peep of dawn our voyage was resumed. It had been suspended only because- of the danger of grounding in the dark on one or other of the innumerable shallows which render the navigation of the Danube inconve- nient; and it proved, in every point of view, more agreeable than the experience of the pre- ceding day might have led us to anticipate. It is true, that the great plain continued unbroken ;. though even in that direction an object would from time to time present itself, which we had no disposition to pass unnoticed. Here, for example, at Monosterszeg was the mouth of a canal which connects the Theiss with the Da- nube; there, a few miles below, stood the remains of Apatin, a town or large village, over the greater portion of which the Danube, shift- ing his channel in a flood, has rolled his waters^ But it was to the right that we chiefly directed our gaze, where hill and grove began again to show themselves, and the vineyard and the corn-field, surrounding the habitations of men, gave evidence of a flourishing and, as it seemed, an industrious state of society. By-and-by^ 270 APPBOACH TO the point was gained where the Draave pours his flood into the Danube, giving a prodigious addition to the volume of his waters, and en- tirely changing their very hue. They were no longer of a whitish green, as if their course lay over a bed of chalk, but became dark and sullen as we might expect to find them when forcing their way through a soil so deep and rich as that which, on either hand, controls them. From this moment till the apparition of Bel- grade warned us that the voyage was drawing to a conclusion, our progress was in the highest degree interesting. The plain to the left put cm, as it were, a new character, and spread out before us a mighty forest ; on the right, towns, villages, and chapels became more and more abundant, and hill and dale appeared to vie with each other in fertility. Vukovar was left behind, Neusatz seen afar off, and the border of the Military Counties gained at the bridge of boats, which connects Carlowitz with Peterwar- dein. These, and especially the former, are fortresses of the second rank, which entirely command the navigation of the Danube, and the roads which pass on each side of it ; and which bristling even in these peaceable times with cannon, and swarming with troops, pre- sented an exceedingly formidable appearance. SEKLIN. 271 But we did not delay to examine them longer than was necessary to open for us a free channel by removing some of the boats from their places. On, then, we swept with all the rapidity which the united force of steam and the current could produce ; till passing the mouth of the Theiss, we arrived about four in the afternoon at our point of debarkation, and the ship's halting- place for the night. 272 CHAPTER X. APPROACH TO SEMLIN. — SEMLIN. — THE QUARANTINE STA- TION. — THE MILITARY COUNTIES. I HAVE seldom looked upon a scene which appeared, on many different accounts, to ad- vance stronger demands upon my curiosity, and interest, than that which the approach of the steam-vessel to its anchorage, opened up. In the first place, the aspect of things has become entirely different from aught on which, through- out the downward passage, you have heretofore been gazing. The Danube, swollen by the accession of the Draave and the Theiss, and receiving here into its capacious bosom the waters of the Saave, assumes the appearance rather of a lake or inland sea, than that of a river. The forests that close him in on the left, have become darker and deeper than be- fore. The hills on the right have melted gra- dually away, and now merge into one vast plain, having neither rock nor mound, to interrupt its sameness; unless the cliffs which imme- diately overhang the river, may be so accounted. SEMLIN AND BELGRADE. 273 Behind one of these, so as to be entirely con- cealed till you have passed it, lies Semlin, — a poor, mean, deserted-looking town ; while on the opposite bank of the Saave, Belgrade lifts up its head ; imposingly enough, as seen from a distance, because crowning a circular hilJy and clustering round its base. In the next place, you feel, while gazing upon the woods and plains, that form your forward view, that you have reached, at length, the very threshold of Christendom. On this side the Saave, the^ cross surmounting tower and steeple, gives- notice that the Redeemer is worshipped; — on:-^ the opposite side, the crescent, catching the^^ sun's rays, from minaret and mosque, proclaims the ascendency of a meaner faith. Now, though it be quite true that the day of Moslem power has passed away, never in all probability to re- turn, I defy any reflecting person to stand, as we^ did then, midway between the fields on whicha^ the battles of the rival creeds have so ofteir been fought, without losing sight for the moment of the realities of present times, and living, in imagination, entirely for the past. It is not of the Sultan Mahmoud, and the Emperor Ferdi- nand, — the one prostrate at the feet of the Au- tocrat of the Russias; the other indulging in the harmless pageantry of lepeated coronationSj-— N 3 274 EETBOSPECTION. that you think. Your mind wanders back to times, when Mohammed II. threatened the liberties of Europe, and John Corvin, the gallant protector of Hungary, stayed his on- ward progress ; when Belgrade, alternately lost and won, formed an advanced post to Chris- tendom, and the Danube and the Saave wit- nessed deeds of heroism, such as they are not likely, in a similar cause at least, to witness again. Alas! it is but a profitless occupation, this looking back upon glories that will not return. Hungary, which stood ever in the forefront of the battle, is now an independent kingdom only in name; and Poland, which when even Hungarian valour foiled, came freely to the rescue, exists no more. Yet it is not easy, at least here, on tie very border-line of Osmanlie, to forget that such things were. The arrival of the steam-boat at Semlin is an event, in which the entire population of the frontier town seems to take an interest. We saw, as we approached the pier, that it was crowded with spectators, and scarcely were the moorings made fast, and a plank thrown to the shore, ere a multitude of persons of all ranks and degrees hurried on board. Among others, the governor came, an old man, who had served in the War of liberation, and attained to the THE GOVERNOR OF SEMLIN, 275 rank of general — ^bringing with him his wife, a lady young enough to be his grand-daughter, and two aides-de-camp. Yet his, like the visits of less dignified personages, was a mere indul- gence of justifiable curiosity. " What was going on at Pesth ? how stood matters at Vienna T These were the questions which he put; and having received to them such answers as the captain was either able or willing to give him, he sought nothing more. " Is this all the intercourse that takes place between you?" demanded I. / " This is positively all," replied the captain ; " the poor old man is here in a sort of honour- able exile, of which the monotony is never disturbed, except by our visits. It would be cruel not to gratify the ruling passion of his soul by telling him something. Accordingly, I make a point of bringing him news, as well from below as from above; and if there he none really astir, I invent it. He always acts as you have seen him act to-day. Whatever I communicate, he receives as authentic, vnth- out troubling himself to inquire into my authorities." I do not know how far the captain's standard, of morals ought or ought not to be accounted a just one, but I am quite sure that his motivesk 276 SEMLIN. -were kind; and good motives, in eases more equivocal than this, may sometimes be treated as the best criterion of men's actions. The ship's deck was still thronged, when we bade adieu to our fellow-travellers ; and, under the guidance of an obliging countryman, who acted as engineer on board, took the road to Semlin. You approach the town by a cause- way, which runs through the heart of an immense swamp, — a fruitful source, especially in the spring and fall of the year, of agues, and intermittent fevers. . Created long ago, as a defence against Turkish aggression, it serves no other purpose now than to mar the beauty of a landscape, which might otherwise be very at- tractive, and poison the atmosphere with the noxious exhalations that are emitted from it. For Semlin, though garrisoned by a battalion of infantry, is no longer a fortified place ; and, if it were, is incapable, because of the proximity of heights, which on two sides entirely com- mand it, of any protracted defence. There are to be sure some stockades along the front which is turned towards the Saave, as well as a gate beside which a guard is always mounted ; but stockades and a gate would be but a poor pro- tection against the attacks of modern armies, and confer no warlike character on the town QUARANTINE ESTABLISHMENT, 277 which can boast of them. I suspect, then, that the continuance of the marsh, which no longer undergoes even the cleansing process of an occasional inundation, is owing more to the indolence of the people than to any apprehen- sion on the part of the authorities, that their rest may be broken in upon some fine day, by an irruption of Turks from Belgrade. Semlin is remarkable only for the quarantine establishment which is there kept up, as a pro- tection against the plague. It consists of a certain number of cells, with their respective yards or courts palisaded round, and resembling the cages of wild beasts in the Zoological gar- dens; of the lodgings of those who attended upon the inmates of these cells ; of two neat little churches, one for the use of Roman Catholics, the other set apart for the Greek service ; and of a detached house in which dwell the medical officers. With the excep- tion of this last, all the other buildings are inclosed by a lofty wall, within the circuit of which is an area of perhaps three or four hundred feet square; and as the cells are ranged against the edge, and the churches occupy the centre of the space, the effect to the eye is not unpleasing. We were conducted, as strangers freely are, through this open court, and we had 278 dUABANTINE ESTABLISHMENT. an opportunity of looking from afar, on the victims of the sanitory code, all of whom chanced to be arrayed in the Turkish garb, and all sat smoking within their cages, but we did not venture to approach them. I need scarcely add, that the periods of time during which the quarantine regulations continue in force, vary according to the healthy or unhealthy state of the season elsewhere ; or that as the longest term of confinement does not exceed forty days, so, under the most favourable circum- stances, the traveller from Turkey into Hun- gary must endure, with patience, if he can, a ten days imprisonment. With respect to mer- chandize, on the other himd, such as bales of cotton, and other articles which are supposed to convey infection, a much less rigid discipline is exercised. The authorities keep in their pay a man who thrusts his bare arm, up to his shoulder, into each bale as it arrives, and if, at the end of three days, he exhibit no symptom of illness, the goods, of whatever description they may be, are passed on into the interior. We were very desirous of passing over to Bel- grade, where all the peculiarities of the Turkish mode of life are just as broadly marked as in Con- stantinople; and having learned in the course of our voyage, that the work might without diffi- QUARANTINE ESTABLISHMENT. 279 culty be accomplished, we waited on the gover- nor in order to solicit from him the necessary permission. The custom is to send with the stranger a couple of police oflficers as an escort, who follow him wherever he goes, and closely observe his proceedings. If he have resolution enough to abstain from coming into personal collision with the inhabitants, — ^if he neither enter their dwellings, nor purchase aught at their stalls, nor suffer any of them to touch him even accidentally, then he may wander from street to street at his pleasure, and return to Semlin with his bill of health unpolluted. But the slightest deviation from this rule, whether it be voluntary, or the reverse, sub- jects him to a ten days' quarantine. Alas! when we came to petition in our own persons, for a privilege which had been described to us as universally granted, we found that the custom once was, but that it existed no longer. There had arisen, it appeared, an alarm of plague across the Saave; and all communication between the two countries was cut off. We were somewhat disappointed, as may be ima- gined, yet we knew that remonstrance would have been useless; so we returned to our inn to sup, and to sleep, and to make other pre- 280 THE MILITARY COUNTIES. parations for the continuance of our journey on the morrow. Though not yet beyond the boundary line of Hungary, we had now arrived at a portion of it over which the common laws and customs of the nation exercise no authority. From Neu Orsova, a good way on the other side of the Danube, to the shores of the Adriatic and the Dalmatian frontier, there extends a belt of ter- ritory for the most part very narrow, with here and there a patch thrown down, as it were, in the midst of districts differently constituted, and one remarkable tongue of land interposing between Croatia and Lower Hungary. Within this belt military law, or rather military juris- diction, entirely prevails. There every man capable of bearing arms is a soldier ; every offi- cer is likewise a magistrate, and from year's end to year's end, neither officer nor soldier can be said to live otherwise than he would were an organized enemy in his front. As the state of society in this district is, in itself, very peculiar, and the order of control and management ob- served in it, appears to have answered every purpose for which it was invented, I do not think that I shall commit an error if I give of both a somewhat minute account ; — ^more espe- THE MILITARY COUNTIES. 281 cially at a time like the present, when our own American possessions seem to demand that some system should be adopted of perpetual defence on the frontier. I do not mean to say, that with our peculiar feelings and habits, it will be possible for us to act precisely on the plan which Austria has so successfully pursued. But seeing what Austria has done, in a posi- tion not dissimilar to that in which we now stand, and while the Canadas adhere to us, must expect to stand towards the United States, it is at least worth while to consider how far we may follow in her footsteps, modifying our pro- ceedings so as to meet the exigencies of the times, without seriously wounding prejudices or principles which are of much more importance than temporary losses or gains. From Neu Orsova to the Adriatic, there may be, as the crow flies, a space of three hundred and forty or fifty English miles ; if you follow the great roads and other established lines of communication, you will scarcely travel from the one point to the other under five hun- dred miles. The whole of this district, which, except in the tongue of land alluded to above, never exceeds, where it is the broadest, thirty miles in width, is divided into fourteen counties, each of which constitutes within itself a com- 282 THE HIUTABY COUNTIES. pact community ; though all are held together by the bond of a general responsibility to the crown and its representatives. The supreme authorities which represent the crown consist first, of a goyemor, or conunander-in-chief, whose head-quarters are established, I believe, at Peterwardein, and next of one or more gene- rals subordinate to him, of whose stations I cannot, except in a single instance, speak even at random. This, however, is of the less con- sequence, that in point of fact, the generals never interfere in the management of those de- tails which give to the frontier districts their peculiar character. They are mere links in the chain which connects the emperor with the peasant ; they are intended rather to take the command in case a war should render a concen- tration of force necessary, than as instruments wherewith to control the inhabitants in times of peace. It is to each county, therefore, con- sidered as a thing apart, that we must look for the information of which we are in search ; and to one of these, no matter which, I accord- ingly turn as to my model. Let it be observed, in the outset, that with the fortified places that lie within the limits of these counties, or with places which take rank as forts or festungs, we have here no concern. STATE OF PROPERTY. 283 These, such as Semlin, Bmd, Alt Gradisca, and many more, being occupied by garrisons from the regular Austrian army, have each its dis- tinct commandant, and each its own peculiar jurisdiction. But elsewhere, in the villages, in the hamlets, and in the open towns, the usages of the frontier hold good, and to these usages our attention must be exclusively directed. And first, with reference to the state of pro^ perty ; it is to be noted, that the land, whether cultivated or waste, along the whole of this border, belongs exclusively to the supreme government. Not an individual subject, from one extremity of the line to the other, can say, This is my estate. His forefathers may have occupied it for three generations, and he him- self may be quite aware that he will never be removed from it, yet has he over the soil no proprietary right whatever ; it is vested exclu- sively in the government. In like manner, the individual members of each family have no separate property in any thing which the estate produces. As they are but tenants in common, or colonists of the crown, so are their corn, their cattle, their poultry, and their wool, the common property of the household ; each mem- ber of which receives, when the harvest is gathered in, his or her separate share; the 284 KENT PAID IN LABOUR, head of all being favoured only in this, that his portion is doubled. And let it be observed fur- ther, that I am not now speaking of the sort of family M^hich is constituted as often as a young man and a young woman marry. So long as the father of the young man survives, he is the recognised head of the stock, be it ever so numerous. It is only on his demise that the roots of new stocks, so to speak, are planted. The inhabitants of a frontier county are all, more or less, agriculturists, that is to say, every family obtains a holding under the crown, and makes the most of it. Each household, more- over, grows its own wool, weaves its own cloth, and makes its own wearing apparel ; while for the holding which produces the materials of all these, rent is paid in labour. The men, besides the military service which is exacted from them, — and of the extent of which I shall take an opportunity to speak by-and-by, — culti- vate, in addition to their own farms, both the oflScers' portions and those which the govern- ment keeps in its own hands. From the latter toil they may indeed purchase an exemption, provided they contrive, by any means, to obtain the command of money; but as this seldom, if ever, happens to be the case, the privilege is rather nominal than real. Moreover, there are RENT PAID IN LABOUR. 285 public works, such as the making of roads, the building of forts and magazines, and the cjn- struction and repair of the officers' lodgings, in which, when required, they must busy them- selves; the time which they spend in these being carried to the credit side of their account with the government. Such is the kind of rent which each man pays for his farm, and which is regularly computed for him by a public ac- countant. According to the extent and value of his holding, he owes to the government a certain quantity of labour, or else a certain amount of money, for which the produce of that labour is assumed to be an equivalent. It is not, however, by the works of his hands alone, during a given number of days in the year, that the borderer purchases his right to till his own fields, and gather in their produce. The law imposes upon every male, so long as he is capable of bearing arms, the liability to serve as a soldier. Even in times of peace, each county is required to keep on foot two batta- lions of twelve hundred men a-piece ; while in times of war, the levy is increased to four bat- talions. But this is not all. Should an exi- gency arise, the emperor has the right of ordering out the entire male population. In this case, all between the ages of eighteen and i 286 BAroS AND FORAYS. thirty-six, are absolutely at the disposal of the state; all above eighteen and below it, from the age of twelve, must arm to defend their own fire-sides. Hence, if the active battalions, as they are called, were marched away, en masse^ into Italy or elsewhere, the frontier duty would still be carried on by old men and boys. When the system was first invented, — and to Prince Eugene belongs the merit of devising it, — ^there was perpetuid war, or the hazard of war, between Austria and Turkey. For many years afterwards that danger continued, and down to the present moment, the borderers on both sides are pretty much in the state of our own moss-troopers under the last of the Tudors. No great while, indeed, has elapsed, since so fierce a raid was made from Turkish Croatia, that the Austrian commandant at Agram took the matter up, and gathering together a large force, as well of regular as of irregular troops, he executed a foray on true moss-trooping prin- ciples, which the Turks are not likely soon to forget. I do not find that, on an extensive scale at least, the amusement has since been repeated. But even the vigilance of the Granz regiments, and it is great, does not always suf- fice to keep off the smaller marauding parties, which are ever ready for a burst, and which. THE MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT. 287 when they do succeed in breaking the cordon, are not only troublesome as plunderers, but commit the most savage atrocities on such as fall into their hands. Partly to protect their frontier against such outrages, partly as a sanitory cordon, and partly that the Austrian army may be increased, at a very moderate expense, by thirty thousand su- perb infantry, the government requires that there shall be continually embodied in each county, one regiment, consisting of two batta- lions, that is, of two thousand five hundred men* Chosen by ballot, out of the portion of the males whose ages neither fall short, nor exceed the specified limits, these battalions are ready at any moment, to take the field, though they never, unless an emergency occur, assemble to manoeuvre, or exercise as regiments, except during a single month in every year. Till the harvest is gathered in, on the contrary, the men dwell in their own homes, and in the bosom of their own families, pursuing their daily occu- pations like other peasants, and putting on the military dress only one day in each week, every man as his turn comes round, to take what well deserves to be termed, the out-post duty. For along the whole of the Turkish frontier^ there is a chain of posts established, — picquets. 288 GOVERNMENT OF THE COUNTIES. in the most absolute sense of the term, — which keeping from their elevated station-houses, a sharp look-out during the day, push forward their sentries at night, and so place them, that each shall take his station within easy hail of those on the right and left of him. Accordingly, to an extent of nearly five hundred miles, you may travel, if you please, in the immediate rear of a line of sentinels, who look across the Saave upon armed men ; — ^not, indeed, arranged with equal regularity, nor yet clothed like themselves in uniform, but bearing the outward semblance of warriors, prompt either to attack or to defend, alike willing to carry fire and sword into Hungary, or to repel it, if brought against themselves. The consequence is, that no commercial intercourse whatever takes place between the two countries, but at points tliat are set apart for the purpose; and that indi- vidual adventurers never pass to and fro, except by eluding the notice of the guards, or forcing the sentries. The counties thus organized are governed, both in their civil and military concerns, by colonels, majors, captains, lieutenants, sergeant- majors, sergeants, and corporals. Over the en- tire county the colonel reigns, or appears to reign, supreme. He keeps a map of his terri- GOVERNMENT OF THE COUNTIES. 289 tory, in which every house, field, and even tree, is set forth ; he visits the several dwellings of his people once, at least, in every year ; and he receives reports from the functionaries that ar6 under him, as well periodically, as when some sudden exigency may call for them. Next in influence, as in rank, to the colonel, are the lieutenant-colonels and majors, who superintend respectively their half battalions, each of six companies; — visiting household by household, once in every half-year, and receiving the reports of the captains, that they may be forwarded to head-quarters. Last of all come the captains, whose vigilance is in like manner taxed by the necessity which is imposed upon them, of exe- cuting monthly inspections, and who. employ both their lieutenants and sub-ofBcers in the superinten dance of their respective squads, till the order of responsibility is completed. It follows, as a matter of course, that throughout the entire range of these frontier counties, no such thing as a secret can exist. Not only each man's personal proceedings are known, but the state of his very household; while those m authority, check irregularities as soon as they begin to show themselves, and incur no odium whatever by doing so. With all this show of power, and a great VOL. III. o 290 OFFICERS OF FINANCE. deal of its substance to boot, it is not to be imagined that either colonels, or majors, or captains, are absolute in their respective depart- ments. What the colonel is to the whole county, the captain, no doubt, is to his portion of it ; yet both colonel and captain are checked in all directions l^ a machinery admirably adapted to the uses which it is meant to serve. There is associated, for example, with each cap- tain, an officer of finance, or economy, on whom the superintendence of all the fiscal affidrs of the company devolve. These, again, include the balancing of accounts with the several families within the circle, the fixing the amount of produce that is due to each, the management of the labour on the public works, and the adjustment of the debtor and creditor reckon- ings between those who execute, and the autho- rities which require that labour. In like man- ner, there resides, at the head-quarters of the regiment, or county, a captain of finance, to whom the subalterns acting with the various companies report, and who, checking and au- diting their accounts, is to the colonel what they are respectively to the captains with whom they fierve. Nor does the matter end even here. Subordinate to each finance-lieu- tenant are a certain number of non-commis- COURTS OF jusncsE. 291 sioned officers, who take charge of their re* spective squads, and who, assembling irom time to time at the captain's office, in the chief station of the company, have their accounts examined, and corrected or passed, as the case may require, to head-quarters. Meanwhile, the law, which has thus nicely adjusted the relation between ruler and subject, is not neglectful of the interests of the latter considered as a reasoning and a moral animal. There is a well organized machinery in every county, and in every department or district of each county, for the administration of civil and criminal justice. Once a week, at the chief station of the company, or circle, a sort of ses- sions is held by the officer of £nance, where meet together the sergeants-major, two sergeant^, and two corporals, all, like the officer, selected from the finance department. In addition to these, the colonel nominates two heads of families — ^men of known good character and respectability; and lo the court is complete. Such is the tribunal which, subject to the appro- bation of the captain, decides all questions of disputed right, all complaints of trespass, aU claims of debt; and which, as the parties com- posing it are intimately acquainted with the characters and condition of the litigaQts, iB 2 292 COURT OF APPEAL. found rarely to err in the award which it gives, from the line of strict justice. From the deci- sion of the district court, however, an appeal lies to a court similarly constituted, at head- quarters, where, over and above the finance officers, three gentlemen, learned in the law, deliver their opinions. They have been added to the list of members because cases do some- times arise, with which mere soldiers, however honest in their purposes, know not how to grapple ; and the consequence is, that by the judgment of the lawyers, in all important mat- ters, the court of appeal is guided. Yet it is worthy of remark, that even in reference to them, the esprit militaire suffers no abatement. "They dress as officers, they have rank in the army as officers, and as officers in the army, they are by the inhabitants regarded. Equally simple in their construction, and prompt in their proceedings, are the courts which administer criminal justice in the bor- der counties. The same tribunal which decides in civil cases, tries parties that are charged with punishable offences. Over the troops actually enrolled, indeed, the authority of the officers is supreme; they carry on the discipline of their respective battalions exactly as military discipline is preserved elsewhere. SUPREME CRIMINAL COURT. 293 But, persons not attached to these battalions, whether they be men or women, are brought before the monthly sessions, if suspected of crime, and dealt with according to the decision of the judges. The punishments, again, are flogging with a stick, imprisonment, working in chains, and even death. It is worthy of remark, however, that grave charges are not dealt with except at the head-quarters of the county, where a supreme court of criminal justice is presumed to be always sitting. It consists of a chef-de- battailon, as president, of an auditor, who acts likewise as a judge-advocate, of two captains, two sergeant-majors, two corporals, and two private soldiers. I never heard but one opinion expressed, as to the perfect impartiality and fairness of this tribunal ; while a further pro- tection is afforded to the inhabitants in this, that no punishment can be carried into effect, till the colonel shall have examined the evi- dence, and approved the sentence. I have stated, that the system of management for the Granz Comitates was originally in- vented by Prince Eugene; it is but fair to add, that from the French Marshal Lascey it received many improvements. Its results have been, to render these frontier districts at once the most tranquil, and the best ordered portion of Hun- 294 GENERAL SYSTEM gary. Poor the people are; that is to say, nobody, be his rank what it may, can boast of a superfluity of coined money; but the neces- saries of li£e are eyer3n¥here abundant, and all, without exception, have a share in them. In a military point of view, again, no arrangements could be devised, better adapted to give to the government of the country, the command of a large and efficient army, which costs next to nothing. For the soldiers of the Granz regi- ment receive no pay, except for the days when they are actually on duty; and during the month when the regiments are embodied and brought together, for purposes of training. The officers, indeed, are paid, on the same scale with officers of the line, because they are not permitted, as individuals, to occupy more land than may be included in the gardens which attach to their respective dwellings ; but the men receive the reward of their services in the lands that are allotted to them, and in the quiet enjoyment of the crops which they produce- Moreover, every detail, both of public duty and private busaness, is carried on under the surveillance of the authorities* From time to time the hold- ings of the several families are inspected, after which written accounts are handed to the head of each, setting forth the amount of his pos- OF UANAGfiMENT.. 295 sessions, and the value attached to them as reckoned in labour^ The cattle, also, of tha &mily,^ the horses and stocky are all numbered and enrolled. Again, it is the oflSicer of finance who decides what portions of land shall be cultivated from jear to year, what seed sown, what quantity of grain laid up in the publie magazines, what set apart for general consump- tion. In like manner as the membei*s of each &mil7, however numerous, are assumed to have a conmion interest in the property that belongs to it, so the entire county or regiment i& made to participate in the profits which ac*- crue from the paid labour of its several mem- bers. The custom of forstban, for example, prevails here, as well as in other parts of Hungary; with this variety of usage, — that whereas elsewhere an order from Vienna will serve your purpose everywhere, just as the march-route, granted by the authorities in any particular county, suffices for that county and none other; — here, on the military frontier, the right of granting such march-route belongs exclusively to the commanders of stations. Whatever money is earned by such means the finance officer receives, and it is carried, like the men's earnings on the public works, to the credit of the common fund. I 296 EFFICIENCY OF THE The government is very strict in requiring from each family periodical returns of the num« bers of its male members, within the ages of eighteen and thirty-six. It is likewise per- fectly impartial in the selection which it makes from the whole body, as recruits may be want- ing. The results are that there is no where the slightest disposition to evade the conscription where it falls; and that active service is re- garded as the lot of all men. I have heard it computed that, throughout other provinces of the Austrian empire, the proportion of regi- ments embodied is as one to every four hun- dred thousand inhabitants. Along tlie Turkish frontier this ratio is taken at one regiment for every fifty thousand persons. But the mere increase to the amount of the standing army of Austria is the most inconsiderable advantage which the government derives from the system. The Granz regiments are not only the least ex- pensive, but they are the most efficient corps in the service. They are composed of men who imbibe military ideas with their mothers' milk, who grow up from boyhood in military subor- dination, who live in the continual exercise of daring, and vigilance, and self-command, and so even in seasons of recognised peace possess all the quickness, and intelligence, and courage that 6RANZ REGIMENTS. 297 belong to veterans. I was assured, by one who was well qualified to give an opinion, that when the Carbonari were troublesome in Italy somie years ago, and the Austrians moved an army to suppress them, there was no portion of the in- fantry to be compared with the frontier regi- ments, not only in appearance, but in discipline, quickness, capability of enduring fatigue, and all the other qualities which constitute good troops. Yet these men live six days out of the seven as other peasants do ; and put on their uniform only when their tour of duty re- quires it. One word more concerning the condition of these people, and I pass on to other subjects^^ The government is not even subjected to the expense of clothing them. Their arms, accoutre- ments, and, I believe, boots and shoes, they receive from the public stores ; but their coats and hosen they grow, and weave, and &bricate, and dye at home. Moreover, there is among them neither care for the morrow, nor repining over the events of yesterday. As their numbers increase the government allots fresh farms for their maintenance, and thereby strengthens its own available resources, without, in the most trifling degree, increasing the drain upon the public treasury. o 3 2&8 THB MILTTABY COUNTIES. Such "WES the portion of Hungary, through which, when satiated with Semlin, we proposed to make our way. Of the events that befell us, both then and afterwards, I shall speak in another chapter. :^\ 299 CHAPTER XI. JOUBNEY TO MOROYITCH. — STRANOB ASPECT OF THINGS^ ANIMATE AND INANIMATE. — MOROYITCH. — VISITED BY THE CAPTAIN. — YINKOYEZE. — NEU OBADISKA. — THE YICE-BAN MARCHOYICZ. The country round Semlin, except where some low hills overhang the Danube, is one immea- surable flat. As far as the eye could reach, moreover^ no symptoms of town or village were discernible ; and the woods having been cleared away> the whole face of the plain was covered with corn-fields. Who could think of com- mencing a pedestrian expedition there? We saw at once that such a project would be mad^- ness; so we sent for a peasant over-night, made a bargain with him for his wagons aud horses^ and finding him true to the time appointed in the mcnming, placed ourselves on the rude seat which with straw and rug he had iabri« cated, and set forth. We had heard much of the dull and monoto- nous character of the great j^n of Hungary. We had now a veritable specimen of it before us ; for many long and weary miles we drove 300 THE PLAIN OF HUNGARY. ere so much as a cottage made its appearance, and all the while the com waved on either hand, rank and luxuriant. Yet, singular as to us this state of things appeared, it is but a copy, and an imperfect one, of what prevails elsewhere. There are parts of the country, especially in the great plain of the Theiss, where you may travel an entire day without encountering either the houses or the faces of men ; and all the while your route will be through fields, loaded with abundant crops of wheat and rye. Moreover, the customs of the people who occupy that plain are, to the full, as striking as the external appearance of the country; and it may be well if I describe them. The long and fierce wars which Hungary sustained with Turkey, and the exposure of these open districts to perpetual invasion, first induced the inhabitants to congregate into heaps; and the habits then contracted have never since been laid aside. Accordingly, there are no such things as villages and hamlets, far less detached dwellings, to be seen anywhere ; but at remote intervals one from another, you come upon towns — towns of the veriest huts — where dwell six, eight, ten, and sometimes as many as thirty thousand peasants together. ■' «»s CUSTOMS OF THE PEOPLE. 301 How they preserve order among themselves I do not know ; for their magistrates seem to possess little influence over them; yet they do live peaceably enough; and, though all are poor, and squalid, and filthy to a degree, there seems to be a perfect indifference to the evils which poverty and squalor bring with them. They are to a man agriculturists. It is by the labour of their hands that the boundless plains, through which you have travelled, are cultivated ; and the process by which the mighty operation is performed is this. When the season for ploughing and sowing comes round, the males march in a body from their homes. They erect wigwams, or huts, here and there in the fields ; and then setting to work, they toil from Monday till Saturday, living on the provisions which they may have brought with them, and sleeping at night in their bivouac. On Saturday they all return to the town, and do not leave it again till Monday. In this manner the first processes are carried through, and when all the seed has been scat- tered, the people march back to their perma- nent habitations, there to abide in idleness and filth, till some fresh operation becomes neces- sary. Finally, when harvest is ready, the bivouac is resumed ; the women coming forth 802 LONELINESS OF THE COUNTRY. this time to assist in getting it in. And as the completion of the sowing season sent them back to the town, so when reaping ends, the knts are abandoned. In the particular counties through which we were now passing, things can hardly be said to extend this length. It has been the policy of the government to promote, as much as possible, the building of permanent Tillages everjrwhere ; and these, though few and £ur between, we found to be at least sufficiently abundant to preclude the necessity of having recourse to the process of bivouacking. I hardly know in what order to begin for the purpose of describing the events that occurred during the first stage in our tour of the military counties ; not one of which might be, in itself deserving of especial record, though the whole combined to render the day an era in the exist- ence of the trav^ers. I say nothing of the effect produced upon us by the interminable corn-fields already referred to ; nor of the sense of loneliness which came over us when mile after mile waa traversed without an opportunity being presented to us of exchanging salutations with a being of our own order. But I must allude to the single eireinnstance yrblch. broke m upon the monotoay of the scene, because it struck me at the moment,, and strikes me stilly THE HUNGABIAN WOLF-DOG. 303 as liaving been, in every sense of the expreft- sion, highly characteristic. We had heard a great deal of the wolf-dog which is bred in Hungary, an animal of prodigious size and eoci* ^ rage; but withal treacherous and unsafe, ex- cept with its master and those to whom it is accustomed. It had been my wish to procure one, and after looking out in many places with- out effect, I purchased, at Semliu, a puppy, which was described to me as of the purest and most unexceptionable breed. Strange to say, we had not even seen one of these creatures; but to-day as we travelled along, we beheld, in a field to the right of us, an animal which ap- peared to move with extraordinary agility, and so tall^ that his head, and sometimes his back, appeared above the standing com through which be was galloping. We watched him atten?- tively, and as he chanced to arrive at an open meadow we saw that he was a dog, quite whiter with long shaggy hair, and larger than the largest sized Newfoundland which I, at leasts have encountered. He was evi'^ittfy hunting ; for his nose was to the ground, aaad he went oa at a rapid canter, as if secure of his trail. We journeyed on, the dog keeping paralld with us ; tin, by-and-by, he set off at an accdteii- rated pace, and we lost him. It never entered 804 HALF-SAVAGE STATE OF SOCIETY into our thoughts that we should meet him agaio, but in this we were deceived. We arrived in due time at a part of the road by the side of which a dead horse was lying ; and there, feasting upon the carrion like a beast of prey, stood the superb animal whose progress we had been watching. The fact seems to have been that he snuffed the carcass from afar, and, like a wolf, which in all its habits, save only in his attachment to man, he resembles, he went with the breeze till he reached his prize, and now was devouring it. There had been other crea- tures at work before him, — a carrion crow or two, and a filthy buzzard ; but he drove them off as often as they attempted to share his feast, and claimed the entire carcass as his own. It struck me that one might search far and near without discovering, either within doors or without, a more palpable proof of the anoma- lous and half-savage state of society than this simple scene between the hunting-dog and the dead horse afforded. We had not, however, gone very far beyond the wolf-dog and his prey, ere a new scene opened upon us. We ap- proached a village, — a strange wild Oriental- looking place, — with all its houses planted apart one from the other, and each surrounded by its own little enclosure. There was, how- ON THE FRONTIER. 305 ever, a place of worship in the settlement, which, more than any other edifice, gives to the ocality where men are congregated, an air of, at least, incipient civilization ; and though dedi- cated to the service of the Greek church, it was not on that account lightly esteemed in our eyes. And here I may observe, once for all, that throughout the frontier counties the mem- bers of the Greek church are quite as numerous as the members of the Church of Rome. Nay, more. Protestants are here, Calvinists, Lu- therans, and sundry sects besides, to whom, not less than to Jews and even to Mohammedans, the most absolute toleration is given ; nor does it seem to enter into the heads of these well- drilled peasants that any necessity exists forquar- relling with any human being because of his reli- gion. For the present, however, we had other matters to attend to. Our postilion, alive to the wants of his cattle, which, from five o'clock to eleven, had held their course unfalteringly, proposed to bait ; and as we too felt that to tax them further would be cruel, we readily fell in with his proposal. Accordingly, he drove to the door of a little inn, whiere, under the shade of some pollarded trees, he halted ; and slipping the bits out of the ponies' mouths, and giving them water from a well hard by, he first scat- 306 HALF-SAVAGE STATE OF SOCIETY tered a parcel of hay before them, from a flick on which we had been sitting, and then dived into the auberge, leaving ns to our meditations. Strange, wild, and un-European, were the tableaux which passed in quick succession before our eyes. The style of the houses^ the dresses of the men, their swarthy com- plexions, and dark moustaches, had a character about them quite peculiar. Loud and inhar- monious, too, was the hubbub of voices which issued from the room to which our driver had retreated, and out of which came group after group of most uncivilized-looking beings, to stare at us. Then, again, the women and chil- dren,— the former lying for the most part at length near their own doors, the latter running about in a state very little removed from nudity, resembled none of their species with whom in other parts of the world we had made acquaint- ance. The first were very filthy, very dark; very indolent, and, as it seemed, very good- humoured ; the last shouted and squalled, and crawled about exactly as we should expect duldren to do, to whom nature had as yet been the only guide, and who were not likely to be placed und^ the management of any other. Having waited with remarkable patience a OK THE FBONTIEB. 807 good hour, during which our peasant seemed more disposed to attend to his own comfiDrts than to those of his horses^ we prevailed npon him to resume his seat, and our journey waa resumed. There was no change^ either in the general aspect of things around us, or in the impression which it made upon our own minds; Corn-fields — hixuriant corn-fields— with here and there a meadow, seemed to be interminable, without fence, or hedge, or ditch, or any other species of line to mark the bounds of individual holdings, or guard against involuntary trespass. Moreover, we beheld in these meadows, small groups of persons attending to their vocations^ shepherds, or keepers of cattle, or swine-herds, very many of them armed with muskets, and all attended by their dogs, while occasionally a peasant would meet us, armed in like manner, even though his implements of husbandry were about him. Such, indeed, is part of the training which the inhabitants of the frontier counties undergo, and of which it is the effect to render them brave and self-collected under every emer- gency. They do not know when a body of marauders may break through the line of guards, and so each man is prepared to defend himself if attacked, either singly, or in conjunction with those beside whom he is pursuing his labours. 308 BEACH MITROyiCZ. We bad agreed with our postilion to convey us only as far as Ruma, a place distant from Semlin about tbirty Englisb miles, wbere we fiilly calculated on being able to procure a fresh wagon, such carriages having been represented to us as everywhere attainable; but we were mistaken. The harvest was just beginning, and no arguments on our part could prevail on the peasants to withdraw their horses from the fields, even though we offered to pay them whatever they might choose to demand. Un- der these circumstances, we had nothing for it but to appeal to the good-nature of our Semlin driver ; and to stimulate him to the exercise of his benevolence by the temptation of a double hiring. Fortunately for us, this latter induce- ment overcame his scruples, and he consented to carry us on to Mitrovicz, one stage further in advance. Accordingly, having delayed about a couple of hours, during which both men and horses refreshed themselves, we resumed our progress about three o'clock, and long before five found ourselves in the very midst of a fair which happened that day to be held in Mitrovicz. A fair in one of these frontier towns of Hun- gary resembles, in its bustle and excitement, a similar gathering anywhere else : in the cos- tumes and general appearance of the throngs A HUNGARIAN FAIR. 309 which are brought together, it probably stands alone. It would be useless in me, however, to attempt anything like a description of it. Pea- sants were here in their best attire, — ^generally brown cloth jackets and wide trousers, with steeple-crowned hats, very broad in the brim, and waistcoats of gaudy colours, buttoned up to the chin with small silver coins. Eidelmen from the interior, moved more solemnly about, with their wide cloaks wrapped round them, and jingling enormous pairs of spurs on the heels of their untanned boots. There was a priest of the Greek church, in his blue robe and long beard; here a Mussulman, turbaned and moustached, and his girdle stuck full of pistols and yatagans. Soldiers of the Granz regiment swelled the crowd, in their neat brown uniforms ; women, merry and free, with their scanty petticoats, and handkerchiefs on their heads, flitted backwards and forwards ; while stalls of every description blocked up each street, and shouting, and laughter, mingled in their turns, with a great deal of indifferent music,; both instrumental and vocal. In like manner the inns were filled witb people, eating, drink- ing, smoking, bargaining, jeering;— it was, in short, a scene of absolute confusion, out of whicli, after we had cast a hurried glance over 810 TURKISH SIDE OF THE SAAVE. it, we were anxious to escape ; and very thank- ful we were, to find that the means of doing so were at hand. There were plenty of wagons in the market- place, which having arrived in the morning with articles of barter, were now at the disposal of anybody who might wish to hire them, for they were empty. With the owner of one of these, we made a bargain, and finding that there was a town called Morovitch, about a couple of stages arhead, where quarters for the night were to be procured, we desired our peasant to direct his steps thither. It was, upon the whole, one of the most agreeable little journeys which we executed in this quarter ; and not the less so, be- cause of a slight unnecessary excitement which attended the latter portion of it In the first place, the road, winding parallel for some dis- tance vnth the Saave, brought us midway, as it were, between the Hungarian and Turkish out- posts ; that is to say, so placed us, that with the river separating us from the latter, we were yet during a considerable space, forty or fifty yards in front of the former. Of the Turks, I saw but little. They appeared, indeed, if any watch was kept at all, to keep it very carelessly; for they had no line of station-houses similar to that upon our right, and showed no or- HUNGARIAN PICQUET-HOUSES. 811 ganized force capable of battle. On out side of the river, on the contrary, eyerything reminded me of years gone by. At intervals -of perhaps an English mile apart, stood a range of small square cottages, or rather turrets, the approach to each of which was by a detached ladder, such as could at any moment be dravm up. More- over, the turret itself was rendered defen- sible by means of a sort of covered balcony that ran round it, where men, sheltered from the weather by a projecting roof, could yet stand and fire over a parapet, or breast-work, in every direction. Then, again, we saw, rising above that parapet, the muzzles of some six or eight muskets, with bayonets attached to them ; while round the picquet-house itself, soldiers were lounging, some sleeping, some chatting, and one or two busily engaged with dice or dominoes. And finally, we came, from time to time, upon a sentry, half-hidden by the ^tem of a tree, or the screen of a hedge, — not the flort of spruce and well set-up animal whom we see every day in St. James's Park, l)ut a soldier ready for the field, sharp in his gaze, rough in his bearing, and taMng as much rest as might be compatible "with the efficient discharge of bis duty. I could not behold all this ^thottt reverting to times when, on the banks of the i 312 A FALSE ALARM. Bidassoa, or beside the waters of the Mississippi, such exhibitions used to be familiar to me ; and I trust that no great crime was committed, if there did arise a feeling somewhat akin to regret, that the times in question should have passed away, yet left so little beyond the memo- ries that are associated with them, in accom- plishment of the hopes which they created and fostered. So long as the road ran parallel with the Saave, the objects which I have just described gave occupation both to the senses and the feelings. Moreover, the natural scenery was, on both sides of the river, much more attractive than it had heretofore been; for enormous forests had taken the place of corn-fields, and there were, here and there, clearances in their depths, which had an exceedingly picturesque effect. By-and-by, however, we struck inland again ; and then all traces of the soldiery and their posts disappeared. I am not quite sure, that the circumstance entirely pleased us. We were well armed, it is true, that is to say, each of us carried a double-barrelled pistol, and, in addition to my couteau de chasse, my young companion had a sharp spear-head, which was made to screw into the end of his gaff-stick at pleasure. Yet we did not feel entirely at ease. ARRIVE AT MOROVITCH. 313 when the shades of night began to gather round us, and we looked out from our open wagon on forests which, for aught we knew to the con- trary, might be infested with brigands. More- over, the sense of insecurity was not diminished when there presently met us three men, dressed Jike peasants, yet each carrying over his shoulder a much more efficient weapon than a pistol, — a long fowling-piece. I am now satisfied that the circumstance which caused us at the moment to ascertain that the caps of our pistols were in their right places, ought, in point of fact, to have been regarded as a strong evidence of our safety. These armed men constituted one of the patrols which, passing to and fro all night long, from the head-quarters of the nearest company to the outposts, afford an additional protection against surprise, by ascertaining that no enemies have stolen through the advanced line, and that the roads are in other respects safe. It was quite dark when we arrived at Moro- vitch, and the inn to which we were driven had little in its external character to recommend it. It was, in truth, a very wretched hovel, yet we succeeded in procuring an apartment for our^ selves, and iix due time, supper and a tolerable flask of wine made their appearance. We had VOL. III. p 314 OUR PASSPORT DEMANDED. not sat down to them, however, ere we were made to feel that police regulations. — of wbichy since our arriyal in Hungary, we had lost sight, — existed in ftdl force here on the frontier. A corporal entered, and, in respectful but soldier- like terms, demanded a sight of our passport. We gave it to him immediately, and saw him, without the slightest misgiving, carry it away that it might be submitted to the captain's in* spection. And then we addressed ourselves to the provend. It was neither very delicate nor very skilfully cooked, yet it made but a poor stand against our onslaught, and the deep that followed, despite of the lively (^position of a whole swarm of insects, was sound and re- fi-eshing. We were up with the lark, and anxious to pursue our journey ; but this we fomid to be a measure beset with greater difficulty than over- night we had tak^i into our calculations. It was necessary, in the first place, to await the captain's visit, who desired to return to us our passport with his own hazids ; and, in the next place, there was no bouem-post to be pro- cured. Here, as wdll as in the vicinity of Buma, the harvest was in progress; and nobody could be prevailed upon by any s^mount of hire to interrupt so necessary an operation. I iinist VISITED BY THE CAPTAIN. 315 do the captain the justice to observe, however, that the impediment occasioned by his pro- mised visit was soon removed. We had not yet finished breakfast, when he came ; and very polite and well-bred, though justifiably inquisi- tive, he proved to be. Nay, more ; on stating to him the dilemma into which we were iiirown, he very kindly offered us a forstban ; and greatly as we should have preferred a voluntary agreement witit a peasant, we were too much at the mercy of circumstances not to avail ourselves of the indulgence. Accord- ingly, the same corporal who had introduced himself to us over-night, was despatched to bring in the wagon and horses; and we, in order to while away the interval, which from previous experience we knew would be great, fialUed forth to look about us. *Morovitch, the head-quarters of a company, or circle, is a small town, or rather a large vil* lage; the most conspicuous objects in whi(^ are the church and guard-house ; the former^ merely because it is a place of worship, though a small one ; the latter, in consequence of the warlike character which its presence, and that of the soldiers who lomige about its fronts give to the entire scene. The town stands upon the Spaezva, one of tbe many tribiitarj p 2 316 UNSUCCESSFUL ANGLING. streams which, from either side, iall into the Saave, and swell its vohime of water; but which, muddy and dark, because holding its course through a rich alluvial soil, is very little tempt- ing to the angler. Yet is it full of fish ; carp, I suspect, or some other huge monster, which springs greedily enough at the natural fly, but positively refiises that which is artificial; for though we flogged its slimy surface throughout a good hour, and gave its occupants the choice of our whole stock, not one could we allure to his destruction. This was the more provoking, that our fishing-rods proved to be here, as they had been in Bohemia, sources of endless won- derment to the natives. They could not be made to understand the uses either of the rods themselves, or of the tackle which is appended to them ; and when they saw us address our- selves to angling, there was no end to their ^tstonishment. I am afraid that the impressiou left on their memories is much less favourable to our sagacity, than that which we created beside the Iser. We did not get so much as a rise, and left off at last, in sheer despair. By this time the forstban was ready; and, discharging our bill, and remunerating the civil corporal for the trouble he had taken, we jpushed forward. I willingly omit all notice of MAGNIFICENT FORESTS. 317 the scenery through which we passed. In its essential features it resembled exactly the dis- trict which, during the last stage in our yester- day's progress, we had traversed. Everywhere there is a huge plain around you ; though the magnificent forests that clothe it produce an effect far more agreeable, than the prodigious crops of wheat and rye which meet your gaze more in the interior. But I must not omit to mention, that the prevailing woods were the oak and the beech, and that both kinds of trees grew to a size which was remarkable. I should think that out of these forests — for they extend into the Turkish provinces, as well as into Hun- gary, — ^a navy might be built, larger by far than that of all the pow ers of Europe put together^ Moreover, to-day, as yesterday, we came from time to time to places, where the wood having been cleared away, there had arisen in its room a village, surrounded by its fields, chiefly of maize, between the rows of which, melons and gourds grew in great abundance. All this carried me more and more, in imagination, beyond the limits of western Europe ; and in justice to myself I am bound to add, that there were other reasons why the delusion should have kept its place in my mind with singular tenacity. 318 OEIENTAL CHARACTER It struck me that the farther we proceeded in this coasting expedition the more strongly- marked were the evidences that were afforded of an Oriental character as attaching to the in- habitants of the district. To-day, for example^ we saw women working in the fields, with only a loose chemise thrown over them. In the same attire they were walking with pitchers on their heads, which they had just filled, or which some- body had filled for them, from one or other of the draw-wells that we observed by the roadside. Then came men equipped in linen dresses, most of them wearing calabashes, or dried gourds, at their backs ; while the very cattle, humped on the shoulder, and' exhibiting long and crooked, but very sharp horns, were clearly not sprung from a genuine Gothic breed. But it was in the villages, through several of which we drove, that the manners and customs of the far East were most powerfully illustrated. I say nothing of the draw-well, with which every cottage is in its little yard supplied. Neither did I lay much stress upon the primitive order of society, which causes the peasant whose wagon you have hired, to transport his own provender, and to trust to the village hotel for nothing more than water for his horses. But when we beheld on either side of us, cottages similar in their forms OF THE INHABITANTS. 319 to the Chinese figures which adorn an old- feishioned teaboard; when we marked with what apparent enjoyment the owners of these cottages lay to eat their meals under the shade of certain trees that grew near; when a speci* men of Eastern weaving was exhibited to us— • women working with their canes the yam into a woof, which was extended along the side of the road, from one large stone to another — and others were met or passed, holding the spindle under their arms, and spinning the flax as they walked along; then, indeed, there required some battling with fancy, to convince us that we had not overleaped the boundary of Europe unawares, and so passed into some region where the customs recorded in the Book of Genesis still prevailed. I am bound to add, that whe- ther the chord of association thus struck were or were not the principal cause of our enjoy- ment, we enjoyed this day's travel exceedingly, and experienced something like regret when, about two in the afternoon, our vehicle stopped before the door of a large and commodious inn, in the market-place of Vinkoveze. The tide of events, by carrying us to Vinko- veze, (for such is the correct orthography of the name,) had brought us to the head-quarters of one of the border counties. Here resides the 320 VINKOVEZE. colonel of the SeveDth or Broder regiment, with all his staff of adjutants, judge-advocate, finance officers, and keepers of accounts ; and here, too, as it happens, is the station of one of those general officers of whom I have else- where spoken, as commanding each his brigade on the frontier. It is scarcely necessary to add, that the town is a place of some importance, and that it presents in all its streets, and squares, and alleys, a very considerable display of the pomp and circumstance of war. Beyond this, however, I have nothing to record of it ; for the stroll which we took through its prin- cipal quarters brought little that deserves re- cord under our observation; and it was with great chagrin that we found ourselves com- pelled, for lack of horses, to abide there all night. To be sure, there did occur, in the evening, a concert, as it was termed, of which we, as in duty bound, became auditors ; that is to say, an individual, — a Jew, — " discoursed eloquent music," from a number of common reeds, which he arranged upon brackets. But though the performance was honoured with the presence of the chief authorities, and the ^lite of the town attended it in like manner, to us it was productive of no other result than a some- what unsatisfactory interference with our din- JUAN, OUR DRIVER. 321 uer. We paid our florin apiece, and went back again to sip our coffee and go to bed. Though we found it impossible to procure horses so as to continue our journey on the day of our arrival at Vinkoveze, there was no difli- culty whatever in making an arrangement for the day following. Honest Juan, — and I re- cord his name because a more civil, and oblig- ing, and intelligent charioteer never occupied the front of a springless wagon, — agreed, on his own terms, to carry us forward ; and promised, on the faith of a German from the Bhine, to be at the inn-door by five next morning. I am sorry to say, however, that Juan did not fulfil- his engagement to the letter. It was past six: ere he made his appearance, and when he did come, there seemed to be a slight disposition on his part to drive more than his horsea according to his own humours. But a brief controversy put all that to rights, and through- out the period of his continuance in our service, which extended over two whole days, we had only to express a wish and it was immediately attended to. It is not worth while to describe minutely the progress of this day. In all its leading features the country resembled that through which we had passed, — with this difference^ P3 322 ABRIYE AT BBOD. that toward the afternoon mountains began tor show themselves afar off over the Turkish bor- der, and that there were frequent hills and swells visible in the opposite direction. The people, too, in their appearance, in their garb, and in their habits, were essentially the same ; while towns, houses, and churches, and the general arrangement of the hamlets, continued to keep alive the sort of half-delusion under which, during the previous day, we had la- boured. When, therefore, I have stated that all things went well with us ; that our postilion proved to be a fellow of great intelligence; that being, as I have hinted, a German from the Rhine, we were able to maintain with him an animated conversation, and that he possessed and was prompt to communicate a great deal of information, I have said as much in reference to the day's journey as the subject appears to deserve. And the detail cannot be more appro- priately wound up than by recording that about four o'clock we halted for the night in Brod. Brod is a fortress on the right bank of the Saave, under the walls of which a town of near two thousand inhabitants has grown up. The castle is occupied, like other positions of the kind, by a regiment of regular infantry ; and the duty is carried on exactly as it would be VIGILANCE OP THE GABItlSON. 823 were an enemy's force in the field, and a siege daily expected. For, in addition to the ordi- nary posts from the Granz battalions, which watch the course of the river, the garrison throws out its picquets, and has its chains of sentries regularly planted in every direction beyond the outworks; yet we were not pre* vented from crossing the drawbridge^ and look« ing into the barrack-square beyond ; neither was any objection offered to the minute inspectioQ. which we made of the defences from the crest of the glacis. The latter, indeed, is, to a poi^- tion of its extent, very neatly laid out as a pub- lic garden ; and if we did not encounter a crowd of loungers amid its mazy walks, the circum- stance must be attributed riather to the lack of taste among the people, than to the absencie ot a good feeling towards them on the part of the authorities. It was evident enough that with all that was to be learned in these frontier counties we were by this time familiar, and the sameness which prevailed, in reference both to animate and inanimate objects, began to grow weari- some. We resolved, therefore, to push fby- ward by long stages; and having assured Juan of a good drinkgelt, we prevailed upon him to have his horses in reluliness for a 324 PERQUISITES OF THE SENTRIES. start by the first peep of dawn on the following day. Accordingly, having retired to our beds betimes, we quitted them long before cockcrow, and just as the garrison clocks were striking four, our vehicle moved from the inn-yard. It was still very faintly light ; that is to say, the gray morning was pushing the night aside somewhat after the manner of a gladiator who has so nearly met his match, that though he be gaining ground, he is himself unconscious of it. The town and fortress seemed both buried in sleep; yet we had not travelled iar ere evi- dence was afforded that here military vigilance, at least, is never relaxed. Wrapped up in their great coats, two or three sentries kept watch along the roadside; and by-and-by we came to a barrier, near which a picquet fire was burning, the men on duty being asleep on some straw within the influence of its warmth. All this, though abundantly warlike, spoke rather to my memory than to my imagination ; but the pro- ceedings of the sentinel who watched for his comrades did surprise me. He stopped our wagon, demanded from Juan whether he car- ried any com or hay about with him, and took away what our honest postilion gave, without so much as an acknowledgement. " Oh ! that is the custom here," said Juan, after we had N£U GBADISEA. 325 passed on ; " these soldiers of the Granz regi- menty as a compensation for watching the road all night, are authorized to appropriate to their own use the forage of such travellers as may come and go before sunrise. But I was too deep for them. I left out only some straw and hay in the bottom of the wagon : all that was worth saving I stuffed over-night into the sack on which you are sitting." Juan chuckled not a little over his own shrewdness, and we were not sufficiently rigid in our morals to reprove him for doing so. Our first serious halt to-day was at Neu Gradiska, the head-quarters of the Eighth or Gradiskaner regiment, where, at a better inn than we had recently encountered, we proposed to dine. The horses were accordingly unhar-^ nessed and baited ; while we, taking mine host into our confidence, proceeded to make such arrangements as the state of our own appetites and the condition of the honest man's larder ap- peared to warrant. But these were as yet very little advanced, when a circumstance occurred which turned our thoughts immediately into a new channel. From the doorway of a detached room, there looked out upon us an elderly man, dressed in a suit of rusty-brown, with silver-gray hair, and a good-natured countenance, which 326 INVITED TO DINE' gave a pinmd facie assurance, that he who owned it was not in the habit of living on pulse and water. He motioned to us to approach, which we did ; and then began to question us. We told him, of course, both what we were, and the nature of the business which brought us there; and he immediately insisted that we should enter his apartment and join him in the occupation which our arrival had interrupted* We did enter, and beheld upon his table a bottle of rum, which the worthy soul was drinking, as we should have drunk weak wine;-.- for his pipe was lighted, and a glass of the pure spirit stood at hand, — the better half of its contents, by-the-by, having already gone the way of all potables. Fresh glasses were ordered, ay, and better still, a fresh bottle of rum, more potent than the first; nor was it till after repeated assurances on our part, that the hos- pitable toper became convinced that we would not taste it. " What ! you Englishmen, and not drink rum ? Why, you know that at home you drink nothing else. Rum-punch is the beverage of your highest nobility." " Very likely,*' answered I ; " but as we don't belong to that class, we never do drink rum in its pure state, and rum-punch as seldom as possible. Besides^ we have not yet dined ; WITH A NOBLEMAN. 327 and were we to begin with what you offer, we should not be in a condition to dine at all." "I am very glad to hear that you have not dined,'* replied our new acquaintance ; " there is a friend of mine hard by, the Vice-ban Mar- chovicz, who will never forgive me, if I omit to carry you to his house. He is a man of great opulence, and boundless hospitality ; and having married a countrywoman of yours, is especially attached to your nation. I must insist upon your accompanying me to his castle. It is not a mile off, and the postmaster will get a carriage ready for us in five minutes." It was to no purpose that we endeavoured to evade this requisition also, by stating what was the fiict, our anxiety to get forward. The old man would take no refusal ; and the post- master having been a listener to our conver- sation, stole away, and before we knew what we were about, a carriage drove up. Desiring Juan to be harnessed and ready to start when- ever we should return, we accordingly resigned ourselves to our fate, and the old gentleman showing us the way, we stepped in, and the postboy drove off. Neu Gradiska, a town which may contain perhaps three thousand inhabitants, stands within an English mile of the border-line of th^ 328 srraATioN and defences frontier counties, and marches, if I may use the expression, with that portion of Hungarian Croatia which lies to the east of the military district of Bellovar. Its situation is extremely picturesque; for the hills on both sides have begun to assume a bolder outline, and far in the distance, mountains are seen, — ^the extreme roots of those Julian Alps which stretch down into Turkish Croatia and Dalmatia. It was across this border-line that we drove, and the effect of passing that imaginary barrier was to introduce us to a country where the feudal system prevails in its integrity. Moreover, the outward aspect of things entirely corresponded with the ari-angements of social life ; and the bearing and aspect of the people whom we en- countered, told a similar tale. We traversed a sort of lane, with rising grounds on both sides of us, and a small stream running parallel with the road. There lay a village on the right, and here a convent, well situated in a valley, on the left; while by-and-by, the residence of the Vice-ban himself offered itself to our view. It was a fine old pile, castellated and surmounted with turrets, having walls of a prodigious thick- ness, and was built round a square court, into which our carriage drove. I learned afterwards that it was of the date of the sixteenth century, OF THE baron's CASTLE. 829 that it had more than once withstood an attack from the Turkish marauders ; and that its owner still held himself in readiness, in case of needy to put its defensible qualities to the test. It was clear, indeed, from the quantity of arms which he kept suspended in his hall, that the means of self-protection were always ready; and the number of his retainers ap- peared to suggest, that they were there for other purposes than those of idle show. We drove beneath an arched gateway into the court, and at the principal door were re- ceived by a domestic. Our guide saying some- thing to him which I could not catch, walked in, and inviting us to follow, ascended the great staircase without ceremony. We were instru- ments entirely passive in his hand, so on we went; and by-and-by a drawing-room, well furnished, except in the article of carpets, re- ceived us. Even here, however, we were not permitted to halt. The old gentleman being informed that the Vice-ban was dressing for dinner, insisted upon our bearing him company into the presence; and sure enough, our first acquaintance with the lord of the castle took place, he standing with his coat off, over a wash- hand-basin, and we looking somewhat aghast at having been thus unceremoniously made free 330 THE VICE-BAN MARCHOVICZ. of liis chamber. But the Vice-ban Marchovicz was a kind, hospitable, open-hearted man, who seemed perfectly to understand the character of our cicerone; and was nowise vexed by the intrusion of which we had unwittingly been guilty. He begged that we would stay and dine with him, requested us to amuse ourselves in the drawing-room till his toilet should be completed, and joining us there in a few minutes, used his best exertions to convince us that we, though unbidden, were welcome guests. We spent a very pleasant day with this gen- tleman, concerning whom, in the course of conversation we learned, that he had married a Miss Prescott, an English lady, to whom he was greatly attached, but who died many years ago, leaving him the^ father of only one son.. The young man sat at the foot of the table during dinner, and was now a captain of hus- sars; yet strange to say, neither he nor his father spoke a word of English, which both exceedingly lamented. Our party again con- sisted entirely of gentlemen, — the baron's head bailif]^ his confessor, with four or five others, all, as it seemed, somehow or another, attached to his establishment, and the kindness of one and all to us strangers was excessive. More- over, the Vice-ban having elicited from me an THE VICE-BAN MARCHOVICZ. 331 admission that I was fond of music, caused his confessor to sit down to a piano-forte, while we ate our dessert ; and I must do the monk the justice to say, that he played with great taste and feeling. Finally, pipes were exchanged, in token of amity, — a species of barter in which I became to a great extent the gainer ; and of Ofener and Carlo vitz, — the best wines in the country, — the consumption was not trivial; Yet on our rum-drinking friend, these ordinary liquors produced no effect. On the contrary, it appeared to me that the more he drank, the clearer his intellects became; and a very indig. nant man was he, when, refusing to join in a fresh magnum, I broke up the conclave. The Vice-ban Marchovicz is an admirable specimen of the feudal chief of Hungary, who, rarely quitting his castle except to pass a few of the winter months in Agram, lives like a potentate among his people, and by his people is so regarded. He was proud of his park, which, under the guidance of his deceased wife, had been laid out somewhat in the English style, and spoke with allowable self-satisfaction, of the quantity of game which abounded among his hills, in which both wolves and bears were included. We were not, however, in a situation to profit by the wish which he expressed, that 332 RETURN TO NEU 6RADISEA. we could stay and assist in a wolf-hunt ; for he himself was on the way to Agram, whither he intended to proceed on the morrow, and to us delay would have heen inconvenient. Accord- ingly, we parted at the end of three hours, with expressions of mutual regret ; and accompanied by our old guide, made ready to return to Neu Gradiska. Yet even in the matter of our re- moval, the old-fashioned hospitality of the Mar- choviczes was not to be diverted from its legitimate channel. We found, on descending the stairs, that our own carriage had been sent away, and that one of the baron's, with two magnificent grays, stood ready to receive us; and to sum up all, it was the baron's heir, the captain of hussars, who mounted the box, and became our charioteer. All this was very striking, and I must say very agreeable. It brought before us a state of society to which elsewhere in Europe there is probably no parallel, and left upon our minds an impression every way favourable to those among whom such customs prevailed. Yet the denouement was abundantly ridiculous. " Who is the old gentleman to whom I am indebted for the very pleasant day which I have spent?" whispered I to our moustached charioteer. RESUME OUR JOURNEY. 333 " Oh ! he is a decayed gentleman ; a sort of hanger-on about the castle, to whom my father gives the run of his house, and who dines with us whenever it suits him. He is a very good sort of man, but a most determined drinker." So I had already concluded, and certainly if a doubt existed in my mind, the mode in which we parted would have entirely removed it. The young baron having deposited us at the inn-door, I shook hands with him, and went round to see that Juan and his wagon were ready : but I was not to be permitted to pass thus. A shout from our red-faced friend recalled me ; and there, in his own sanctum, I beheld wine and rum set out again : and listened to the most determined arguments in favour of a recurrence to the bottle. ThQ captain of hussars could not very well escape ; but I fled for my sobriety: and the last which I saw of him and his companion was at the inn-door,— -« the latter holding in his hand a bottle of rum, and imploring me to wait till it should be finished. The scene amused us a good deal, yet we were not sorry to let the curtain fall upon it ; and the remainder of our journey was passed without the occurrence of any memorable inci* 384 MINERAL SPRING. dent. I recollect nothing, indeed, which deserves to be recorded, except that there was pointed ont to us, near the roadside, a mineral well, at which Joseph II. and the Archduke Maximilian had both drunk, very much to the restoration of their enfeebled constitutions. It was enclosed, when we saw it, by a stone wall, and bore over the entrance an inscription, which commemorated alike the virtues of the water, and the gratitude of the princes who had benefited by the use of it. Moreover, we knew that we were traversing fields, hallowed in the eyes of the Hungarians, by the memory of a hundred battles ; from all of which they came not off as conquerors, though in none was their honour tarnished. But I am not going to revert to matters so long passed and forgotten. Rather let me be content to state, that about eight or nine o'clock we reached a village called Novska, and that we were very thankful for such accommodation as the inn afforded,— namely, a small and somewhat filthy room, a tolerable supper, and a couple of beds. 335 CHAPTER XII. NOVSKA, DIFFICULTY OF FURTHER CONVEYANCE. TURN TOWARDS AORAM. ^THE INN AT DUGOSZELLA. AGRAM. — STATE OF CROATIA AS TO RELIGION AJiD CIVILIZATION. — CARLSTADT. — COUNT NUGENT's CHATEAU AT BOSI- LIEVO. — JOURNEY PURSUED. — BAD OMENS.— SKRAD. — DALNIZA. — THE HORIZON DARKENS. — INSOLENCE OP THE PEOPLE. It had been our great wish to penetrate through the upper part of Dalmatia, and so crossing the mountain called Grosse Kapella, to come down upon Fiume as a stage in our progress by Trieste to Venice. Our friend Juan, however, positively refused to carry us farther. " I would not follow that route," said he, " if you were to multiply my hire fourfold. You will find it bard enough to reach Fiume from this side, tiie what road you may; but if you escape being robbed and murdered among the momi«- tains of the Kapella, then go and thank your patron saint earnestly, the very first i^irine or church you enter." It was to no purpose tixat we strove to deride his fears, and reminded him that we v^ere armed. ** Armed !** said he; "what would your pocket-pistols do against 336 DIFFICULTY OF FURTHER CONVEYANCE. the brigands and smugglers that infest these wild districts? Why, you will be shot from behind some rock before you have time either to fight or flee ; and then, of what use will be your arms ?" I must confess that Juan's asse- verations produced very little effect upon me, I did not believe that anywhere under the Austrian sway, the population was so savag6 as he described it ; and I gave up my project of crossing the Kapella, only because I found that the roads were next to impassable, and that no peasant would consent to encounter them. The next thing to be done, was to consider how it behoved us to proceed. Juan, though reluctant to abandon us, was obliged, owing to the unfinished state of his harvest, to return home ; and in and around Novska every horse and wagon was busy. Again we threw our- selves on the kindness of the captain command^ ing, and again were our difficulties removed. He consented to supply us with a forstban, provided we would follow the good road to Agram; and promise to change our vehicle at the end of the first stage ; — and our position was not of such a nature as to leave us the power of choice. We therefore came into his terms very readily; and about eight o'clock next morning mounted behind a peasant lad» HALT AT DU60SZELLA. 837 and were driven, no wise grieving that of the military frontier we had seen the last, along the great road to Agram. From Novska to Agram had been computed to us as including a space of about sixty Eng- lish miles ; and late as the hour of starting was, we hoped to accomplish it that day; but we were mistaken. We travelled now by forstban ; and the delays attendant on the calling in of the horses from the harvest-field, proved greater than our calculations had taken into account. At the first stage, to be sure, the village of Kuttlina, the greatest possible attention was shown to us ; for not only were horses sent for on the instant, but the stuhl-riechter s wife, the stuhl-riechter himself being confined to bed, insisted on our staying to dine with her, and treated us most hospitably. In like manner, there is at Vedreniak a regular station, whence fresh horses were supplied with something like the promptitude which marked the progress of similar operations along our own coach-roads half a century ago. But there our conveni- ences came to an end. At Dugoszella, just one stage from Agram, we were under the necessity of calling a halt, inasmuch as the innkeeper, with whom the right of ordering forstban rested, assured us, with many protestations, that not VOL. III. Q 338 MONASTERY OF KLOST. even the emperor, if he were travelling the game road, could get fresh horses before the morrow. It is never worth while to lose one's temper in a strange country; so we shrugged up our shoulders, ordered supper, and disposed ourselves to make the most of things. We traversed this day a country which, in all that can delight the painter's eye, was a marked improvement on the scenery of the frontier counties. Less fertile the soil doubt- less was; but the rise and fidl of the land greatly pleased us ; and the vineyards which clothed the sides of these sloping hills spoke of much wealth to come. We passed, likewise, one or two places, especially Klost, the seat of a wealthy monastery, which, both from the local situation and the antique and time-worn aspect of its buildings, interested us much. Moreover, a thunder-storm, with its usual ac- companiment, very heavy showers of rain, had amused us ; so that, on the whole, we were not very much disinclined to make friends with our landlord at Dugoszella, and his apartments. But had the contrary been our humour, it would have been impossible long to retain it, in the face of the inn-keeper's exceeding eagerness to make us happy. He was not a Hungarian, but a Frenchman, who, after living A FRENCH INNKEEPER. 339 many years as yalet to a Croatian noble, had married the lady's maid, and was by his master established in this inn. Alas ! poor fellow, he was entirely out of his proper element. Cro- atia, according to him, was the most savage country on the face of the earth. Every pea- sant was a brigand, and every gentleman a tyrant ; and really, but that he contrived to make a poor living among them, no considera- tion would hinder him from returning on the morrow to ** La belle France." I had been very much struck with the number of large and fierce dogs, which he kept about his house and premises, and demanded the reason. " Mon Dieu, monsieur ,' was the answer, " if I had not these dogs to protect me, I should lay my account every night with having my throat cut 1i)efore morning." Yet with all this alarm for his own personal Ktfety, our host proved to be, like his countrymen in geiieral, the lightest-hearted of mortals. He played the guitar and the fiddle ; he sang, and offered to dance for our amusement. In a word, he made himself so agreeable, and took such pains to have our supper neatly dressed, that -we shut our eyes to the palpable stratagem which rendered us his gnesrf^s for the nighL Neither dog nor brigand broke in upon our Q 2 340 AGRAM. slambers, and by seven o'clock next morning we were again en route. The approach to Agram from the Turkish frontier is exceedingly fine. The city itself, lying at the foot of a range of well-wooded hills, looks like the centre of an immense am- phitheatre ; for far away in the distance are the Julian Alps, stretching round, as it. appears, well-nigh in the form of a crescent, and gird- ling in the plain, out of which the hills in question rise abruptly. You see, long before you approach it, that it is a place of some im- portance ; for the cathedral looks down majes- tically from the height on which it is planted ; and not far removed from it is the bishop's palace, an edifice of imposing aspect, and more than moderate extent. Then, again, there are a new and an old town, of which the former, sjpread over the level, is in its principal streets distinguishable a good way off, while the latter, climbing up the ascent, appears to take shelter behind one of the ridges, so that by-and-by a steeple seen here and there, is all that tells that a town is near at hand. Neither can the effect be said to be diminished as you approach the suburbs, where lawns, and shady walks, and ornamental plantations abound ; while your progress towards the hotel, after the suburbs A6RAM. 341 are fairly entered, interests you exceedingly. Everything was novel on which we looked forth. The houses, the people, the shops, the booths, all had about them peculiarities, such as attached them to an order quite distinct from the same objects in Prague, or Vienna, or Pesth. It was a new phase in the great moon of human society ; the effect of which, though it renders all efforts at description nugatory, is just as fresh in my mind at this moment, as it was when I first beheld it. We drove to a hotel which had been recom- mended to us, and which, as it bore the impos- ing title of the Kaiser Von Oesterreich, we naturally expected to find the best in the city. I have not one word to say in disparagement of it. Having been newly built, and very recently tenanted, it was, in point of furniture, some- what in its infancy ; but the people were civil, the viands good, and the beds as tolerable as intense heat, and the ceaseless activity of my- riads of insects, would permit. It is of the town, however, rather than of the hotel, that I am called upon to speak ; and it would be very unfair were I to deny that it interested us greatly. We were fortunate, too, in finding here, not M. Marchovicz himself, but a gentleman who had married his daughter, and who kindly took 342 CONSTITUTION OF upon himself the task of showing us all that as strangers we desired to see. The cathedral we found to be an extensiye a^d handsome building, with capacious cloisters, and a large establishment of canons. There were, more- oyer, several monasteries in the place, and a gymnasium or college, the management of which is entirely in the hands of the clergy ; indeed, the clergy are here, as they are through- out Croatia in general, personages of much greater importance than any where else, except in Italy. Then, again, we took a survey of the head-quarters of the civil government; the apartment where the ban, or council of magis- trates, hold their sittings ; and last of all, wan- dered through the very beautiful gardens which surround the episcopal palace. I have else- where stated that the see of Agram is one of the richest in Hungary, and that its emolu- ments are represented as falling little short of fifteen thousand pounds a year ; and I have now to add that the house, and all about it, are in perfect keeping with this princely revenue. There are certain peculiarities in the con- stitution of society in Croatia, of which it may not be out of place if I here make mention. First, then, though in all that appertains to the right of sending representatives to parliament. CROATIA. 343 Croatia be an integral portion of the Hungarian monarchy, it still retains many rights and pri* Tileges which, as they are peculiar to itself, so not even by the decision of parliament could they, without creating a prodigious ferment, be set aside. Religious toleration, for example^ which elsewhere in Hungary is unlimited, exists not at all within the limits of Croatia. Neither Lutheran nor Calvinist is permitted to make a confession of his belief, and the attempt to open a Protestant place of worship would subject him who made it to condign punishment. Of course, such a state of things cannot exist, ex* cept co-ordinately with universal ignorance and superstition; and universal ignorance and su- perstition are accordingly the leading features in the Croatian character. Again, the arm of the reformer, which in Hungary swept away so many convents, and applied their wealth to other purposes, has here accomplished nothing. Religious houses for both sexes abound in Croa- tia. In like manner, the ban, or executive magistracy of Croatia, stands as completely separate from the control of the palatine of Hungary, as if between the two countries the breadth of the Atlantic were spread, and com- munications from the one to the other were both rare and difficult. Nay, more ; I was not slow 344 POINTS OF DIFFERENCE BETWEEN to detect that the Croats are divided fram the Hungarians by a more impassable barrier than even the interposition of an ocean could have erected, inasmuch as they look upon their neighbours with an eye of jealousy, which partakes somewhat of the bitterness of ha- tred. The arrangement which has of late been eqtered into, touching the use of the Magyar tongue in the transaction of public business, especially displeases them. ^^ What know we about the Hungarian dialect?" was the substance of their complaint. " It is the language of a small minority in the kingdom, and to us, who are not Hungarians, it is, to all intents and purposes, a foreign speech. If they were determined to set aside the Latin, which throughout so many ages has served every pur- pose, surely the rational plan would have been to adopt the Slavonian, with which all, except the inhabitants of the district round Pesth, are familiar." It was no business of mine to take a side in this controversy, which agitated the Croatian s, as I found from their murmurs, very seriously; yet I could not help feeling that there was, at least, a show of reason in their argument; though it is contrary to the established order of things that the vanquished should give their language to the conquerors. THE CROATS AND THE HUNGARIANS. 345 These, then, are the points of difference be- tween the Croats and the Hungarians ; in other respects I do not find that one people has much to boast of when compared with the other. In both divisions of the country, vas- salage and lordship exist in their fiill vigour, and in both the yoke has long been borne by the peasant uneasily. But the Hungarians, whatever they might feel, have not, on any occasion, striven, as the Croat peasantry did, to right themselves. But a few years have passed since there was such a ferment in thi& region as could be arrested only by the pre- sence of a large military force ; and even now it is evident that the gentry look upon their serfs much more in the light of slaves, whoni they must hold down by violence, than as re- tainers attached to them by the bond of mutual goodwill and an alternation of dependance and protection. We spent two days in Agram very agree- ably: for there is a charm in novelty, even when you encounter it in cities ; but we found no inducement to prolong our stay further ; and made preparations to pass onwards. On con- sulting our friend as to the best means of reaching Trieste, he advised us rather to travel by Carlstadt to Fiume than to go round by Q 3 346 JA6ZKA. Laybach; and in order that we might not be detained by the way for lack of horses, he undertook to procure from the proper authori- ties a march-route, or authority for the forstban. No obstacles seem to have been thrown in the way of this arrangement, for the march-route was freely given ; and in obedience to the or- ders of those in power, a wagon, drawn by four horses, drove next morning into the inn-yard. We took our places, as usual, on a sack well stuffed with straw, and away we went. The rate at which these small horses drag the small wagons along a good road, is really surprising. I do not think that we compassed less than seven or eight miles in the hour ; yet as there are no springs to your vehicle the fatigue is great, and you would gladly compound for a more tardy pace were you sure that the I jolting would be tardy also. On, however, we flew, setting ruts and stones at defiance, till at Ij Jaszka, two stages beyond Agram, our postilions j: made us aware that their task was accomplished. It was here that we first began to be taught that between the national characters of the Croats and the Hungarians there is a marked difference. I do not mean to accuse the stadt- riechter in Jaszka of any manifest neglect of his duty, but nothing was done with alacrity ; CARLSTADT. 347 and when, after two hours' delay, the horses did arrive, the bearing of those who accepted our money for their hire was the reverse of agree- able. We travelled on through a country which, in point of natural scenery, became more and more attractive at every stage. The roots of the Julian Alps began to gather round us, not in mountains, for as yet they were far removed, but in broken ground, in numerous swells and fells ; and, above all, in frequent crags, which, rising abruptly out of the plain, gave an air of singular wildness to the district which produced them. Thus it was till we reached Carlstadt, a town of some importance, surrounded by works that seem to be capable of, at least, a temporary defence, and surmounted by a bold hill, the summit of which is crowned with an old baronial castle. In that mansion, which is now the property of Count Nugent, Marshal Mar« mont, governor under Napoleon of these pro- vinces, used to reside* We did not go to see it ; for besides that we were straitened for time, its exterior held out few enticements to penetrate ferther ; yet we looked at it as we passed with a good deal of interest, which was not dimi- nished by the recollection of the opinions which had been expressed to us in reference to the 348 BULE OF THE FRENCH. effect of French domination in these quarters To our extreme surprise, we found that the people, so far from complaining of it, were loud and unqualified in the expressions of their regret that it had ever passed away. " The French," such was the language which greeted us everywhere, " were the best and most honourable rulers whom we ever obeyed. No human being was wronged by them. They preserved order just as rigidly as it is preserved now; yet we did not suffer half so much, either in our feelings or our liberties ; and we obeyed them all the better." I do not know how fisur this account of French domination is to be relied upon; but it is only fair to add, that except in Prussia, and even there the tone was not always the same, I never heard any of the middling or lower orders, either in Germany, or Hungary, or Italy, speak of these tyrants of Continental Europe, otherwise than as just in all their dealings, and the reverse of offensive in their deportment towards those whom they had subdued. At Carlstadt we changed, for the second time, our wagon and horses ; and here the dis- position to behave rudely, of which we had reason to complain at the previous stage, showed itself more decidedly than ever. There INCIVILITY OF THE CARLSTADT PANDOUB. 349 is a functionary at each of these stations, called, in the language of the country, the pandour, a sort of police-ofRcer, who dresses in a hussar uniform, and wears, when arrayed in accord- ance with the full dignity of his station, a huge steel-scabbarded sabre at his side. It is the business of this personage to see that the directions given in the travellers' march-route are obeyed; and, if he do his duty as be- comes him, travellers are accustomed to re- ward him by some trifling present, additional to the hire of the horses. At Carlstadt the pandour not only failed to exert himself in our favour, but, in reply to our request that he would provide the horses specified in our order, coolly told us that there were no horses to be had that day, and that he would not trouble himself to look after them before to-morrow morning. We were vexed at this, as was natural, because our intention was to spend the night at Count Nugent's chateau, the castle of Bosilievo, which lay two long stages, or between twenty and five-and-twenty miles, beyond Carlstadt ; and we expressed ourselves, finding that smooth words were useless, some- what warmly on the occasion. But remon- strance proved, for a while, as unavailing as argument, and we were left to digest our own 350 WILD SCENERY chagrin as we best might in the yard. At last, however, after much delay, a couple of horses were produced, which had been standing, as it turned out, all the while harnessed and ready in the stable of the station-house to which we had been driven. I acknowledge that I was guilty of the extreme weakness, not only of feeling indignant at this wanton disregard of the law's authority, but of making my indigna- tion manifest. When the pandour approached to claim his customary drinkgelt, I refused to give it ; and throwing the amount to a peasant, who had conversed with me during the interval thus wantonly wasted, I desired our postilion to drive on, and left the man in office exceed- ingly irritated at the proceeding. Notwithstanding our unnecessary detention at Carlstadt, we did succeed in reaching Bosi- lievo that night, after an exceedingly beautiful drive through an exceedingly beautiful country. For we were now feirly among the valleys of the lower Alps ; and the mountains on every side, though still comparatively low, were be- ginning to assume a bold and majestic outline. There was an air, likewise, of desolation and extreme wildness spread over everything, which somewhat solemnised us. The signs of cultivation became, as we advanced, more and OF THE LOWER ALPS. 361 more rare ; while the dark forest began again to assert its supremacy over every ravine and hollow. By-and-by, our postilion, quitting the main road, struck into a path to the lei%» which led us on, and on, towards a scene highly characteristic of the condition, both of the country and its inhabitants. We traversed a large moor, over which, at intervals, patches of birch and alder trees were scattered, with here and there a little cluster of dwarf-oaks. But, if the moor was bleak, the frame-work to the picture, of which it formed the centre- piece, was exceedingly fine. On every side the mountains appeared to gather around us ; and the admiration with which we watched the sun go down behind one of the boldest ranges, I have not now forgotten, nor am likely ever to forget. Through this desolate heath we swept along, till the wood becoming thicker, and the traces of human industry more manifest in the ar- rangement of its coppices, we came to the conclusion that Count Nugent's chateau could not be for distant. I need hardly remind the reader of that gallant soldier's career, or of the principal events which mark his personal history. An Iri^man by birth, of a good old Boinaii Catholic family, he quitted home at that period 352 COUNT NUGENT. in our history when Irish Roman Catholic gentlemen found no opening for their exertions in the public service of their own country. He entered the Austrian army; and by his talents and zeal, has risen to the rank of general, besides winning for himself, at the emperor's hands, a patent of nobility. Count Nugent particularly distinguished himself dur- ing the great struggle which ended in the abdication of Napoleon in 1814. Of his own accord, he collected a handful of followers about the shores of the Adriatic, and, after much sharp fighting, drove the French out of Istria and Dalmatia. He was treated, in con- sequence, with much distinction at the court of Vienna, and, besides his regiment, enjoys the dignity and emoluments of commandant of the troops in Trieste. Fortune has smiled upon our countryman, and he is now the proprilr of a consid^ble tract of country round Bosilievo. The old cas- tle of Carlstadt likewise belongs to him ; and he owns, in addition to these, a curious ruin which crowns one of the bold rocks that over- hang Fiume. We had been gratified by meeting him at the English ambassador's table, during our brief stay in Vienna ; and having promised on that occasion to visit him, should CHATEAU OF BOSILIEVO. 353 circumstances lead us into his neighbourhood, we were now on our way to redeem the pledge. It was a great mortification to be told on ar- riving at the chateau, that the gallant owner was from home. Yet of the hospitalities of Bosilievo I have nothing to say, except in com- mendation. The countess, with her fine boys, received us very kindly, and we spent the night there much to our own satisfaction. The situation of Bosilievo is at once romantic and beautiful. The castle, for the house, though lately repaired, has with great judgment been built in the castellated form, stands upon the summit of a gentle declivity, and from its win- dows, as well as from the lawn and garden near, commands one of the most magnificent high- land views which it is easy to imagine. More- over, the effect of your gaze over that wild and broken district is not a little heightened by the consciousness, that the towers, and strong gate- way, and, on one side at least, the ditch which protects the mansion, are not planted where they are for mere purposes of show. I could discover from the conversation of more than one member of the family, that they did not consider themselves quite so safe as they would be vdthin the garrison at Trieste ; and that the watch-dogs which abounded about the pre- 354 CHATEAU OP BOSILIEVO. mises were expected to give notice, should others, besides a marauding party from the Turkish side, approach the castle. Yet, as far as my own experience goes, I am bound to state, that a more peaceful or better regulated household I never entered. We met at sup- per, besides the countess, her sons, and their tutor, — a nephew of the Count's, an oflScer in his own regiment, and attached confidentially to himself as his aide-de-camp, — ^with two more guests than ourselves, a general of engineers and his aide-de-camp, who were prosecuting a tour of inspection through the different for- tresses of the empire. Tlie party was a very pleasant one ; and the light slumbers that fol- lowed its breaking up suffered no interruption, till a servant came in to tell us next morning, that breakftist was laid for us in the dining- room. We had taken leave of the countess over- night; and Mr. Nugent, at our desire, had given orders that a forstban should be at the castle-gate by seven o'clock, at the latest. This was the more necessary, that a long day's jour- ney was before us, and that the latter portion of it was described, as lying through a district which it would be prudent to traverse, if pos- sible, before nightfall. Now, I must confess, DETENTION. 355 that, though as little inclined to credit these tales of terror as most men, I had seen much in the bearing of the peasantry throughout the whole of our yesterday's progress, which had no tendency to impress me with a very favourable idea of their gentleness. I was not, therefore, over and above delighted when not only seven o'clock came without bringing our vehicle, but eight o'clock found us still lingering in the dining-room of Bosilievo. Accordingly, Mr. Nugent suggested that, since we were deter- mined to go, the best plan would be, to make use of one of his uncle's carriages, and to pick up the horses, at the station-house, where a negligent commissary had doubtless detained them. We gladly acceded to this proposal; and a carriage being ordered out, we returned in it to the point, whence, on the previous afternoon,^ we struck off into Count Nugent's grounds. I have entered into these particulars, unim- portant as in themselves they unquestionably are, because my recollection of that day is of one, throughout which, from its commencement to its close, everything appeared to run counter to our wishes. When we reached the station- house, for example, we found that the forstban had started, not a quarter of an hour previously. I I 356 DETENTION. for the castle. Here then was an accumula- tion of contretemps. It was useless to think of demanding another, for no other horses were to be had ; and, had the contrary been the case, the commissary was not bound to furnish them. And as to sending in pursuit of the missing vehicle, that was out of the question. No per- son on foot could hope to overtake it, even if its trail were discoverable ; and seeing that it had passed us, somehow, without either party observing the other, the chances of falling upon its trail were very meagre. There remained nothing for it then, but to sit down on a bench beside the inn-door, and wait with what resig- nation we might succeed in calling up, the voluntary return of the truant forstban. And, as if to tantalize us the more, we had the satis- faction of hearing from our landlord, that but a short time previous to our arrival, an empty carriage, just the sort of thing which would have suited us, had stopped to bait, on its way from Agram to Fiume. What could we do ? " How unlucky we are!" was all the complaint which we uttered, and there the thing ended. At last, about half-past nine o'clock, Count Nugent's people having long quitted us, the wagon arrived. The horses, having been sharply driven to repair the owner's fault, were in a DETENTION AT SKRAD. 357 foam of sweat, and the driver in a less satisr factory humolir than ourselves; yet we got through that stage with perfect comfort, and enjoyed it much. For the scenery was precisely such as the lover of the picturesque delights to behold ; and each step which we took in ad- vance seemed to add to its magnificence. At a place called Szello we stopped; and the peasant protesting that his cattle could go no farther, we were forced, after a stage of nearly seven English miles, to demand a new forstban. There was delay, of course, — there is always an apparent reluctance to obey this somewhat arbitrary law, — ^yet we could not complain of it as excessive ; and when the horses did come, they were, by virtue of a promised re- ward to the postboy, well driven. We thus contrived to reach Skrad, our next stage, a little after noon, and applied for a relay. But here our real difficulties began. The person to whom belonged the duty of supplying horses to such as travelled by forstban, happened like- wise to be the keeper of the inn; and, either because he desired to detain us all night, or that some fit of ill-humour was upon him, he paid no other attention to our wishes than by stating, that the horses were sent for. We shrugged up our shoulders, withdrew into his H j 358 ALTERCATION WITH OUR HOST. hotel; and, in order to occupy the interval, ordered dinner, in the full assuhtnce that by the time this meal should be finished our ve- hicle would be horsed, and otherwise arranged to carry us forward. We sat with all imaginable patience about an hour and a hal^ and yet no horses made their appearance. I went out, in consequence, to remonstrate; upon which the fiery host assumed a tone which had insensibly a bad efiect upon mine, and a somewhat warm alter- cation was the consequence. For it came out in this instance, as it had done in Carlstadt, that there were horses in the stable all the while, though even now the reichter protested that he could spare us only one of them. As the single horse was a good one, however, we did not consider that it would be prudent to reject him; so he was harnessed very awk- wardly to one side of the pole, and away we went. But our journey was not a pleasant one. The driver, as was perhaps natural, had espoused^ in the controversy between the riechter and myself, the cause of his countryman. He continued very sulky all the way; indeed I have good reason to believe that he misrepresented us entirely to the people at the next stage: though of that, at the moment, I knew no- ARRIVAL AT DALNIZA. 359 thing. Yet I was not slow in discoyering, after our arriyal at Dalniza, that its inhabitants looked upon us with an unfriendly eye, and the marks of hostility which they exhibited became continually more striking. I carried my march- route to the proper quarter, put it into the hands of the riechter, and saw him give it to the pandour, or police-officer, with orders to provide the necessary means of travel; but hour after hour stole on, and not only was no carriage prepared, but pandour, riechter, and everybody else to whom an appeal could be made, seemed to have disappeared. Meanwhile, groups of men met together in the street, and conversed together in whispers. In a word, our situation was as little comfortable as it could well be ; and what was worse, we were altogether at a loss how to act in order to render it less so* We reached Dalniza about three o'clock in the afternoon; at half-past five, I went forth from the inn to inquire, for the sixth or seventh time, whether any wagon was ready* This time I foimd that to a machine, even ruder than any which had at previous stages been furnished, a couple of horses were harnessed ; and that the people were preparing it for our reception, by filling up the interior with a load i 360 NEGLECT OF THE AUTHORITIES. of deals. I remonstrated against an arrange- ment, which must of necessity render the horses incapable of travelling beyond a foot's pace; and I succeeded in hindering more than a couple of layers from being forced upon us, but these they would on no account remove. And then followed a scene, which gave a tolerable prognostic of others which in due time followed. The delay in providing horses was clearly charge- able either upon the riechter or the pandour, or both ; to screen themselves, these worthies charged the boy who was to drive us, with being out of the way. While Iwas standing by, they accordingly seized the lad by the throat, and either did beat or pretend to beat him unmer- cifully. I did not like to see the boy mal- treated for no just cause, so I extricated him from their grasp ; and immediately their fiiry was turned upon me. No blow, however, was struck, for I bore their abusive language patiently, and only smiled when the pandour, by all man- ner of gesticulations, endeavoured to impress, upon my mind, and that of the mob, that he was quite able and willing to tear me to pieces. It was quite evident that there had arisen among us a misunderstanding, which, as I did not comprehend one word of their language, nor they one word of mine, was not likely by LEAVE DALNIZA. 361 any effort which I could make to be set to rights. My business, accordingly/was to escape from the village with as little delay as possible, and to make the best of my way to Fiume. Without, therefore, uttering any complaint because of the wretched preparations which they had made for us, or seeking to procure even a truss of straw on which to sit, my young companion and I threw our knapsacks into the wagon, and desired the boy to drive on. But this we were not permitted to do, for, contrary to all our previous experience, the pandour insisted that we should pay for the horses in the first instance ; and give to him, over and above the regular hire, such amount of drink- gelt as he chose to demand. We complied with both requisitions unhesitatingly ; and then receiving back our march-route, the vehicle began to move, and we to congratulate one another on the prospect which was before us, of a happy deliverance out of trouble. Not yet, however, were we allowed to pass freely from the village. A rustic, having con- versed for a minute or two with the throng which followed us, suddenly jumped up into our wagon, and seating himself beside the driver, was cheered by the lookers-on. I could not tell what the man's object was, so I ordered VOL. m. B 862 LEAVE DALNIZA. him to dismount again; and he obeyed me sullenly. And now, having requested the driver of the last stage, who understood Grer- man, and with whom I could hold converse, to tell the boy that the amount of his reward would depend upon his own active coachman- ship, we set forward in good earnest. In five minutes Dalniza was behind us, and all appre- hensions of immediate violence were laid aside. 363 CHAPTER XUL LEAVE DALNIZA. — ^WILD SCENERY. — THE CARRIAGE STOPPED. — AFFRAY WITH THE PEASANTRY. — WOUNDED AND OVERPOWERED.— -CARRIED INTO A COTTAGH.— A NIGHT AMONG THE CROATS.-— TAKEN BACK TO DACNIZA.— 'PUT IN IRONS. BEHAVIOUR OF A CROATIAN MAGISTRATE. ARRIVAL OP MR. HILL, THE ENGLISH VICE-CONSUL, FROM FIUME. — RELEASED. — PIUME. — THE KINDNESS OF MR. AND MBS. SMITH. The sun was getting far into the west when we eleared this inhospitable station ; and the Julian Alps rising like a wall in our front, gaye us the (Comfortable assurance of passing through the- heart of a district, strange to us, and not of tbe^ best repute, in the dark. I confess, however, that I was a great deal too thankful for the escape which we had just made, to give to this consideration any very anxious thought. It brigands should attac^k us, we must make the most of our situation. Resistance to a nume* vous body, better armed than wq, I ^as not. fool-hai*dy enough to contemplate ; but pnmded the odds were not overwhelming, I &ncied that- my fellow-traveller and I could at least give, as well as take, a hard knock or two in moderation. 364 BEACH THE MOUNTAINS. And it would be uncandid to deny, that the excitement consequent upon the past dispute^ had a tendency both to sharpen mj vigilance, and brace up my resolution ; for there was not one of the peasants from whom I had just parted, who might not, on the score of external appearance at least, have passed current any- where for a robber. Moreover, I knew that along the whole of this strip of mountain, the peasants are smugglers by profession, and that when they have any caravan more than usually valuable to transport, from the sea-coast into the interior, they move in such bodies, and so well-armed, that the jagers and revenue-officers do not caie to encounter them. Now, smugglers and rob- bers are, in many of their habits, so much akin, that to suspect the man who is addicted to the former of these practices, of being nowise averse to the latter, is scarcely to offer any serious hurt to the cause of Christian charity. Accordingly, being somewhat annoyed by the insults to which we had been subjected, and -not looking with an eye either of friendship or K)f confidence, on the persons who had been ■actors in the play, I was scarcely in a humour to put the best construction on any future attempt at interruption, and no great while was destined to elapse, ere a serious interruption was offered. OUR CARRIAGE STOPPED. 365 We had compassed a space of perhaps six English miles, and were arrived at the foot of a very steep mountain, across which, for nearly five leagues, the road continues to wind, when we heard a man shouting in our rear, and saw a peasant, whom we had not long passed, run- ning after us. I did not feel that I was called upon to stop ; but as we were already on the^ steep ascent, I permitted the boy to drive slowly, by which means our pursuer soon over- took us, and immediately seized one of the- horses by the head. I endeavoured, as well as I could by signs, to remonstrate with him, and motioned to him to go away; but he paid no attention to me. On the contrary, he held the reins so tight, that the animals could not move ; and began to gesticulate very fiercely. Let it be borne in mind, that we were at this moment in a very wild and lonely part of the road. Dalniza, besides that it was six miles distant, an arm of the mountain had entirely shut out» We could see only a hut or two, somewhat more on the ascent; and off the line of the road, there was on one side a bold hill, — on the other a deep and uninhabited ravine with a river brawling through it. It must not, therefore, excite surprise when I say, that the conduct of this man perplexed and puzzled me sorely; for 366 CONTEST WITH A PEASANT. he was clearly not justified in stopping us under any circumstances, and I could not tell, — ^being ignorant of the lUyrian dialect, — ^whether hi* object might not be plunder. Accordinglj, I dismounted from the wagon, and finding that he would not be prevailed upon to let go his hold upon the reins, I took him by the collar of his jacket, and threw him aside. This don^ I desired the boy to go forward ; but scarcely had I resumed my place in the wagon, when the peasant, gathering himself up, sprang at the horses' heads again, and began to undo the harness. I confess that I was both irritated «nd astonished; so seizing the stick of our landing-net, I jumped out again ; and as he not only would not desist, but exhibited symptoms of appealing to the knife, I struck him a sharp blow over the shoulder, and again cast him from me. This was quite enough. He seized a large [stone, and was about to hurl it at my head, when recoUecting that my pistols were in my pocket, I drew one forth, and presented it. There was no need to fire. The peasant dropped his stone, uttered a loud shriek, and ran with the speed of a chamois towards the huts on the rise of the hUl. Nor were we long permitted to doubt as to the consequences which would follow. FBESH ASSAILANTS. 367 I had again taken my place in the wagoi^ and the hoy Mnas moving on slowly, as before vben forth, from hut after hut, we saw l)and» of people: rushing. Stout, actiTe, feroeious« looking fi^ow^ they were, too, — ^with swarthy complexions^ moustached lips, and dressed in the exceeding^ picturesque attire of the country; but this was no time for studying the pictu- resque in costumes. Our attention was turned exclusiYoly to a consideration of their designs ; and these we soon ascertained to be hostile enough. To the number of perhaps a dozen or more^ they began to assail us with huge sttmes, shouting and vociferating all the while in the most savage manner. All this was both vexatious and alarming, yet what could we do? To stop^ would have been to let the danger overtake us ; by turning back, we should have placed ourselves once more at the mercy of the mob in Dalniza, and to push on was attended by its difficulties also. Yet we preferred the latter course; so encouraging our little charioteer, and standing up in the wagon, as if prepared to give battle, we broke through them. They ^read to the right and left, and we passed on. But our triumph, if such it may be called, was of short continuance. More huts were visible, and each, as we reached it, added one or two 368 AFFRAY WITH to the number of our enemies. At last, finding that we could not press our horses beyond a walk, and following one of their body more courageous than the rest, they set up a shouts and dashed towards us. A stone struck me violently on the head; others fell into the wagon, and they who threw them were close at hand. I looked about, and observing a large house, (a post-house it afterwards proved to be,) a little way a-head of us, I, in a rash moment, made up my mind to fire. My object was not to kill, or even to wound any body, but to alarm the inmates of that house, and if possible, to check the peasants by the apprehension that the shot would be repeated. In all this I acted very injudiciously. Nobody, circumstanced as we then were, ought to use fire-arms except in the last emergency, and then, if used at all, they had better be used with effect. But these consideration, did not, .t the moment,, W upon me the weight that belonged to them, and I discharged one of my barrels. For the in- stant, the effect was unquestionably good. The peasants ran back a good way^ and though nobody came to us from the post-house, we ventured to hope that even yet we might escape. Our little postilion at the report of my pis- tol leaped to the ground, and it was with some THE PEASANTRY. 369 difficulty that I prevailed upon him to resume his station. He did, however, take the reins in hand, while my son, whose perfect self-posses- sion would have done honour to a man of thirty, said, in a cheerful tone, " We are in for it now, papa ! — ^give me one of the pistols !" I gave him, without hesitation that of which both barrels were still charged, and while the lad drove on, made all the haste I could to reload the other. But I had succeeded only in ram*> ming home the powder, when my son exclaimed^ "See, papa! there is a fellow cutting across above the road,— shall I shoot him ?" I looked up, and saw on the high bank immediately above us the same man who had acted as leacfer to the rest, but who, instead of halting, as we antici- pated, and hurling a great stone upon our heads^ passed rapidly to the front. The lapse of a few minutes sufficed to make us aware of his object, in this movement. We passed the post-house^ —-took again a second steep ascent, and lo> about half-way between the base and the sum- mit of the hill, a new body of assailants pre- sented themselves. A number of men, armed with sticks, and one with a musket, stood across the road ; and the musket, to our extreme sa- tisfaction, was instantly levelled. It is useless to inquire after an affiray of this B 3 370 AFFRAY WITH kind is over, tow it would have been most judi- dons to act. I believe now that our wisest course would have been to surrender at discre* tion ; but no opportunity of doing so was afforded ; for one man, so &r advanced in life that his hair and beard were griz^sled, made signs as if he desired to parley with us, and we per* mitted him to approach to the side of the wagon. My pistol was in my right hand, hav- ing one barrel loaded, and the other charged with powder ; and the peasant, instead of try- ing to explain what his intentions were^ made B grasp at it. Nothing could have been more easy than for either myself or my wm to shoot him dead; but I contented mys^vnth pushing him back vrith my left hand, and again all was confusion. The mu^et was once more delibe* rately levelled at me, — ^the man who presented it being less than twenty yards distant; and why I was not killed on the spot I da not know; but the same impulse which, in a better cause, has often led me to close upon an enemj in a similar situation, came into operation then* I spnxkg out of the wagon, with the couteau da chasse under my left arm, and made a rush at the armed man. The effect was very curious* He not only did not fire, but both he and hia companions recoiled for an instant, and ran THS BEASANTBT. 371 towards a cottage by tlie roadside. Then it was that I DFould hare urged the postilion to flog fbrwardj3» but Uiq urehin was gone. He had leaped from his seat when he saw me quit the wagon, and now he was nowhere to be found. I turned my eyes next towards my own gal- lant boy^ and saw him standing in the wagon, pistol in hand» as if waiting for orders ; and I knew that he could be trusted, because the last instructions which I had left with him were not to fire, till I should give the signal. He was as cool and collected as a veteran; and I own that, perilous as our position was, I looked at him, even then» with admiration* But there was other and sharper work cut out for me. The wagon having halted gave time to the pursuers to close, and now on all «des some thirty or forty men surrounded us. Escape seemed impossible, and to spill blood» except in the last extremity, I was very unwil- ling. Accordingly I endeavoured to keep them off by levelling now at one^ now at another;^ and for a minute or two the device served its puis pose ; but it could not, in the nature of things^ avail me long. I received a wiMmd, over the right eye, which partially stunned m^ and caused the blood to flow freely. While I I. I 372 WOUNDED AND OYEBPOWEBED. staggered, a blow struck the pistol out of my hand, and the only weapon left me was the couteau. It was a poor defence against so many hedge-stakes and butts of muskets. I was cut down in a moment, and my senses par- tially forsook me. I do not know how long I could have lain in that trance, when I became all at once awar^ that the blows which at first continued to fall upon me rapidly, had ceased. I looked up, and beheld my assailants standing in a circle about me, but leaning on their weapons and gazing towards the rear. Thither I likewise turned jnj eyes, and there I beheld my son, in the hands of four men, two of whom were struggling to deprive him of his pistol, which he would not resign, while the other two were striking at him, one with a bludgeon, the other with a musket. It would have been strange had any thought entered into my head, under such cir- cumstances, than of his danger. I saw that my short sword, though bent with the blows which it had guarded, lay near me. I snatched it up, and springing to mj feet, opened a way for myself through the throng, towards my boy* Then, seizing one of the men, I had already the point of the weapon at his throat, when, to my extreme delight, he exclaimed in German, It A PARLEY. 373 " Spare my life, and I will answer for your's !'V I let him go instantly; not, indeed, being very sanguine as to what might follow, but being well aware that now we had nothing to depend upon except his honour. And it gives me ex- treme satisfaction to be in a condition to say that he redeemed his pledge nobly. A parley now ensued, and our German scho- lar acting as interpreter, we gave up our broken weapons^ on the imderstanding that no personal violence would be offered to us, but that we should be carried to Count Leichtenberg, the proprietor of the estate, and answer before him for our characters and proceedings. We desired nothing more, for we could not doubt that Count Leichtenberg would at once comprehend the nature of our position, and see that justice was done upon the persons who had maltreated us; but our hopes on this head suffered an eclipse, when, instead of replacing us in the wagon, and marching us to the Count's resi-. dence, the same elderly man who had taken the lead in the last attack, commanded us to be conveyed into his cottage. He appeared, too, as well as the rest, to be in a state of absolute fury, — ^for having found upon my boy the spear- head belonging to the gaff-stick, he rushed to- wards me, and made a movement as if he would 374 FURY OP THE BAND plunge it into mj heart. Meanwhfle two others pinioned my arms, and the process of search be- gan. I had not calculated on this, and ob^^g^ the impulse of the moment, I shook them oft. Pistols, with which several of them werei, I found, supplied, were now levelled, and a repe- tition of the fray had well-nigh taken place, but a moment's reflection taught me that resist- ance, if vain at the outset, would have been ten- fold more useless now. I accordingly suffered them to follow their own course and in two minutes my pockets were emptied of all their contents. And now arose the question, whence came it about that the fury of the band should be so much directed against my son ; and what were the circumstances which placed him in the situation from which I had been providentiallj enabled to deliver him ? His tale was briefly tiiis. He saw the crowd gathering round me ; he called aloud for instructions how to act» and receiving no answer, he waited only till he beheld me on the ground. Then, careless of what might befall to himself, he fired into the middle of the throng, and by that shot saved my life. They had not counted on any act of hostility from a boy so young; and their astonishment at his presumption diverted their AGAINST MT SON. 375 thongfate from me, at a moment when a tevr more blows would hare ended my worldly warw fere for ever. And fierce and bitter were tlie terms in which they seemed to speak of him» and dark and lowering were the looks with which they regarded him ; but the noble fellow did not so much as seem to be aware of his own danger. Bruised he was, and swollen with the blows which they had inflicted on him; yet all his anxiety was with respect to me, whom he watched with a sleepless yigilance, as if €Tcn yet the moment might arrive, when he must again throw himself between me and destruction. •* Papa, there's a fellow pointing a pistol at you," cried he one moment ; " Take care, he will stab you from behind," was another warning ; and not one syllable ever escaped him^ ^ther as to his own sufferings, or the hazard which he ran of suffering more. If that bo^ feil to do honour to the profession for which he IS destined, the day will very imperfectly fulfil the promise which the morning has given. I had suffered v^7 much in this most un- equal struggle. Besides the first wound ov^ the eye, and some severe bruises on the arms and body, I had received two deep cuts in the head ; one of which laid the forehead open just over the I^ temple, and the other divided the 376 CABRIED TO A COTTAGE scalp near the crown of the head. I was weak, too, from the loss of blood, for it ran from me like water; and the excitement of resistance being over, a good deal of lassitude and faint- ness followed. But we had neither leisure nor opportunity to indulge these weaknesses. They hurried us into the cottage, and we were there questioned, through the man whom I had spared, as to what we were, and whither we were going. We told fliem, but they scouted the idea. We were spies from the Turkish side ; we were brigands from Italy; we should be carried next day before the stuhlriechter, and by him transferred to the festung. What right had we to offer any resistance ? and the young viper, above all, for him to fire ! We deserved to be put to death upon the spot. I bore all this patiently; for I knew that to do otherwise would be useless; — ^nay, I even appealed to them, whether they would not give some water to wash the blood from my hurts, and they gave it. There were some women in this cot- tage; and women, meet them in what state of society you may, are always the friends of the oppressed. It was by one of them that a basin of water was brought, and by-and-by a flask of weak sour wine ; which, whether salu- brious or not, under the circumstances of the AS PRISONERS. 377 case, went down very gratefiiUy, and which the dorfiiechter, for so the grizzly-bearded peasant proved to be, did not object to our drinking. It was by this time quite dark; indeed twilight had set in when the aflfray began, and ere it terminated in our capture, the shadows of night had gathered over us. One or two small tapers were accordingly lighted, the feeble flame from which cast over the whole scene an air of extreme wildness. It seemed, indeed, to me, that the people into whose hands we had fallen, if they were not brigands by profession, ought to have been such; for they sat or stood round us, one grasping a musket, another with pistols in his belt, and a third brandishing a huge old-fashioned sword naked in his hand. Long knives, likewise, were also frequent among them ; and when to all this is added their striking dress and their more than half-barbarous bearing, the effect upon persons situated as we were, may be imagined. I do not hesitate to say, that though not quite free from some natural anxiety in reference to the ftiture, I enjoyed my position very much. Of our personal safety, I enter- tained no serious apprehension. I knew that if they had meant to murder us, they would have done so when their blood was hot ; and 378 EXAMINATION OF OUJt BAGGAGE. my misgiTings as to what might be the result of an examination before a magistrate, were then slight indeed. And therefore, though feeble from loss of blood, and a good deal chafed bj the oyerthrow of all our plan of travel, I was inclined to make the most of things as I found them ; and not only did not exhibit, but really did not feel, the most remote inclination to despond. If the general aspect and behaviour of the gang interested us, while grouped round ni^ our feelings were still more excited when they addressed themselves to the occupation of examining our baggage. Of the contents of the knapsacks they made light; even my pocket-book, with its small store of paper ten- florin notes, and Farquhar's most convenient bills of exchange, appeared to be treated as a thing unworthy of their regard. But when they came to the iishing-rods, their indignation j, burst forth again in a very Solent m«mer. It |( was clear that they mistook them for deadly '] instruments, constructed on some mysterious^ jl and therefore horrid, principle. At first, in-* deed, they seemed afraid to handle them, and their dismay was especially excited, when one of them shaking the plug of the principal joint beside his ear, overheard something rattle KINDNESS OF THE WOMEN. 87d urithin its cavitj. I shall n^yer forget the expression of that man's countenance, as he cast the innocent piece of lance-wood from him, or the look of wisdom which accompanied the shake of the dorfriechter's head, as he pro- nounced the whole instrument to be *' stir «chlight," I had lost a good deal of blood, and as they neither bound up my wounds^ nor gave me any* thing wherewith to perform that office for mysetf, the faintness which a draught of wine had for a moment dispelled, began to return, and I had some difficulty in keying my seat on a chest where they had placed me. The women saw my plight, and again took pity on me. Though I could not follow the progress of their appeal, I saw that two of them were remonstrating with the riechter; and immedi- ately afterwards^ our interpreter asked me^ whether I should like to lie down. I answered in the affirmative; and my boy and I were forthwith led into another and a longer chamber, on the earthen floor of which these same women shook down some straw. Let me describe the apartment, as well as the bearing of its occupantsy— because without entertaining some correct notion of the one, the reader will scarcely be able rightly to estimate the effect which was produced by the other. 380 OUB PRISON, The room was precisely such a place as here and there does duty in one of the worst sort of Highland farm-houses for a kitchen. It was a square of perhaps eighteen feet, low iu the roof, with a mud floor, and on two of its sides set roimd with rude bed-places. There wer^ if I recollect right, three small windows, two of which looked in the same direction towards the road ; and in the interyal between them stood a table, with several stools ranged near it. In other respects I have only to observe, that it could boast of no fire-place^ — ^not even of a stove, — and that when the door was closed, not a chink of the windows being left open, the sense of stifling and the extreme heat were by no means easy to bear. Such was the room ; now for some account of those who filled it, and of the different occu- pations to which, during the night, they applied themselves. First, then, out of the whole body of our assailants, ten, including the riechter, remained to keep guard over us ; the rest, after loitering till near eleven o'clock about the door, departed each man to his own home. Of these ten, again, four, whose wives and children were domiciled in the cottage, went a little before midnight to bed, — that is, turned in, — ^the AND GUARDS. 381 women and children doing the like, — ^into the beds, by which our temporary prison was sur- rounded. Meanwhile, the six, all of them armed to the teeth, planted one of their body as a sentinel over the door, while the remaining five seated themselves beside the table, and over a large flask of wine, kept up a very ani- mated conversation. By-and-by they took to some game of chance with dice ; and as their enormous brass-butted pistols lay beside them, and their guns rested against the wall, the spec- tacle was altogether such as a painter might have loved to behold. Then, again, there were in the room three or four dogs, which lay about in difterent directions, and appeared to keep as far as possible from coming in contact with the dicers. And finally, the vermin. Let me be excused for referring to that. The pain of my wounds, now stiffening with their open gashes, was bad enough ; but it was a trifle in compari- son with the suffering which myriads of these active and unsleeping tormentors occasioned. On the straw which the women had spread for us, and over which they threw a coarse sheet, my boy and I lay down. Though swollen and bruised in all parts of his body, he was still so engrossed by anxiety on my account, that he not only uttered no complaint, but appeared 882 VISITED BY scarcely to suflTer. " Try to sleep, papa»" be whispered to me, as soon as we were^ settled ^ Go to sleep if you can. You are not fit to watch. I will keep awake, and if I see any> thing suspicious I will rouse you." Of course I did not agree to this arrangem^it ; fin^ because it would have been cruel to tax the vigilance of one so young, and next, because I really did not feel that any benefit could accrue firom it. I told him, what was true, tbat we were completely in their power, and that if they meant to put us out of the way, thejr could do so just as efiectually while we were awake as when we slept. I ther^re recom-^ mended him to close his eyes, and assured him that I would do the same. The poor boy, with great apparent satis&ction, adopted my advice^ and in a few minutes I knew, from his heavy breathing, that he was fast adeep. For mys^, bodily suffering, rather than the slightest feelii^ of anxiety, kept me for a good while awake; and when I did drop into a doze, it was fevezish and broken, and every way unrefireshing. While we sat in the other room, there had come in a person better dressed than the gaii^ whose prisoners we were ; who, though he spoka German vary imperfectly, endeavoured to open a conversation with us, and soon evinced by THE POSTBCASTES. S88 his manner, that the tnie merits of the case were not foy him misunderstood. He andted, too, at a momait exceedingly critical for mi that is, to say while the riechter Was exaniiniiig our papers, among which, beside our passports, regularly viseed at Vienna, there were severai introductory letters to persons of rank and con^ fiideration in di^rent parts of Gr^many. These he insisted that the riechter jshould tie up in one bundle, and reserve for the inspection of the magistrate. And then turniing to us, he inquired what we were. We told him; and he repeated our answer to those around him; but with one consent they exdaimed against the idea, and asserted thui we were spies from the Turkish proYuices. All this my friend^ whom I had encountered so closely in the mel^, explained to me; for haTing been a scddier in the Austrian service, he had there learned the language, and spoke it much more fluently than the stranger. I asked him who the stranger was, and he informed me that he was a postmaster, ftnd that he i^ided in the large bouse, the h(^e of obtaining aasistsnoe from which induced me to fire the first shot in ike fray. It appeared, however, that he was Hot at home when the struggle took place; that his women tdd him of the drcumstance 384 ATTEMPT UPON MY LIFE. on his return ; and that now his business was to inquire into the facts of the case, though it was quite clear that he had no power, what- ever his inclination might be, to better our condition. When we rose to move towards the sleeping-room, he wished us good night, and then he and the old soldier exchanged a few words apart. I paid little regard to their conference at the moment ; yet it was entirely of us that they spoke, and the event proved that their language had been altogether friendly. I was just beginning to drop into a dose when one of the dicers, who appeared to have drunk more freely than his companions, sud- denly rose, and grasping a horn lantern in one hand, and a pistol in the other, approached our lair. Though pretending to be asleep, I watched him narrowly, and had the pleasure of seeing him hold the lantern down towards my face, and then point his pistol at my head. Even then, I must declare in all sincerity, that I did not entertain the slightest apprehension; at all events, the feeling produced no other rear soning than this, — " If he choose to fire, I can't help myself, so he shall not be gratified by dis- covering in me any symptoms of alarm." Ac- cordingly, though I opened my eyes and looked him full in the face, I neither spoke nor VISITED BY A MERCHANT. 385 moved. The fellow uttered some exclamation and gazed about, upon which one of his com*- panions sprang forward, and, taking him by the arm, led him away. I looked at this person, and saw with no little satisfaction, that he was my old soldier. He caught my eye; and having conducted his comrade back to his seat, he came to me and said, " Don't be alarmed ; they dare not injure you. I will stay by you, and not a hair of your head shall be hurt." I thanked him ; and composing myself to sleep again, was soon unconscious of the realities of my situation. I do not know how long I had continued thus, when the voice of some person speaking in the English tongue, called me back to the world of realities. I looked up, and saw stand- ing over me, a man in the garb of a gentleman, who addressed me as an Englishman, and begged me to inform him, how we chanced to come into such a plight. I sat up imme- diately; and thanking Providence which had thus sent assistance in our hour of need, I told him all that had happened. ^^I am not sur- prised at your story," was his answer; "they are a lawless and savage race ; indeed, the won- der with me is, that you escaped with life. But we must not talk of that. I am a merchant, a VOL. III. s S86 ms jldyice and m jesident in Fiame; and though not your countryman, have seen enough of your nation to value you as you deserve. We must consider how we can most easily and most immediately deliver you from the hands into which you have fallen," I told him of the compact into which they had entered with me, of carrying us. to Count Leichtenberg, and entreated that he would send a [trusty messenger to the Count's lesa- dence, and inform him of our situation. ** I think it will serve your purpose better," said he, " if I send for the English consul from Fiume. He is your natural protector; and whatever jseid, and courage, and discretion can dictate, he will accomplish for you. I am VCTy sorry that I calmot stay beside you till he come ; for I am travelling on urgent business to Agram. But the postmaster vrill, I am sure, ftimish us with a trustworthy express, and as the distance is only four miles (Gennan) from this, you may look for his arrival by nine or ten o'clock in the morning." I thanked this good Samaritan with great sincerity ; yet I own that I was more disposed to throw myself on Count Leichtenberg, for I ^d seen enough of Hungarian gentlemen to be assured that he would act fiEurly by me ; aini FRIENDLY CONDUCT. 387 at the moment, I must acknowledge, that I earnestly desired to have isatisfaetion on the ruffians who had misused us. But our friend from Fiume judged better than I, and I left the matter entirely in his hands. Before he went, however, he caused the whole of our papers to be shown him, and required the dorfriechter to account for the outrage of which he had been guilty; and the latter, I have reason to believe, being more staggered by his assurances, than he had been by those of the postmaster, began to doubt whether the supposed spies might not, after all, prove to be true men. Neither did his kindness and con- sideration for our characters stop there* "I know these people well," said he; "when it is proved to them that they have abused travellers, whom it was their duty to protect, they will try to establish some charge of violence against you; so I will take the pre- caution as I proceed on my way, to inquire at every stage, how you have conducted your- selves along the road." No prophecy could be more entirely accomplished than this; and .never, perhaps, was a measure of precaution more judicious. Mr. Maliovich made his in- quiries, and found that no human being com- plained of us. Yet when the matter came to s 2 388 ARRIVAL OF be investigated, by order of the Austrian go- vernment, a thousand incredible tales of our ferocity were got up ; and a screen was in con- sequence thrown over parties, whose error, even if it were one of judgment, ought to have incurred the censure of those under whom they acted. Our good Samaritan left us ; and stoical as I believed myself to be, while yet the horizon seemed absolutely dark around us, I must con- fess that the prospect which he held out of a speedy deliverance, brought with it no trivial accession to my composure. I fell asleep, and did not wake again till daylight. Meanwhile the dorfriechter had sent for the pan dour from Dalniza, the same insolent and overbearing menial, of whose disposition to play the tyrant on a small scale, we had already received the assurance; and the effect of his apparition, belted, and armed with a dragoon sabre, was certainly not cheering. Moreover, he made no secret of his determination to make me feel that I was in his power. He brought with him a strong chain, with manacles for the wrist and ankle, and, ostentatiously throwing it down in the comer of the room, commanded us to rise. We did so ; and then came the question, ** Where is your march-route ?" I told him the THE DALNIZA PANDOUR. 389 truth, that in the struggle it had been forced from me, and torn. He laughed aloud, and said, " That is right." " But you have seen it," added I; "you had it in your hand when I paid you for the forstban." "I!" said the scoundrel ; " I never saw anything of the sort, and I don't believe that you had such a thing." It would have been useless to enter into a dispute with a man of this temperament ; so I turned away from him ; and still bleeding — for my wounds had not been closed, and though stiff, continued to send forth at intervals gouts of blood, — I sat down at the table. And from that period till near nine o'clock was an inter-* val of i^reat anxiety and suspense. The heads of.heVrt,whJpHs«nJwewere.reti«d into the other room, there to get up their case against us ; and long and painful to themselves seemed to be the operation of doing so. We were still guarded by the subordinates ; and so determined was their vigilance that they would not permit me, at least, to pass beyond the door, except under the charge of an escort. And here I must record a little trait, of bar- barity on the part of the men, and kindness among the women, of which the latter will remain in my mind long after the former is forgotten. I had gone out of the room for a 390 KINDNESS OF A WOMAN. moment, when a ruffian, who lingered beliind, as if taking advantage of the absence of isfneh slight protection as I could then afford to mj son, struck the boy a blow with his fist. One of the women was by, and saw it. She looked compassionately at the sufferer without speak- ing ; but no sooner had the brute quitted the chamber than she ran to a sort of closet, and bringing out a piece of black bread, gave it, with a basin of milk, to the boy. He was very hungry, and ate it with thankfulness. Mr. Maliovich had either not calculated with sufficient accuracy on the impediments which a mountain road throws in a horseman's way, or his anxiety to comfort us under imme- diate suffering, by the hope of a speedy deliver- ance, had induced him to promise more than, under the circumstances of the case, either the express or the consul could perform. We had been led to expect the arrival of the latter by nine o'clock at the latest ; and as hope in such cases is apt to outstrip reality, we had looked for his coming ever since the day feebly dawned. As hour after, hour stole on without bringin^^ him, our anxiety began, in spite of ourselves, to deepen ; and it assumed a very strong cast indeed, when we found that an immediate re- moval was determined on. Whither would EXERTIONS OF THE POSXUASIER. 391 they take us ? That we could not tell ; but being entirely in their power, there seemed for us no other course than to submit, with what patience we might, to every hardship or insult that might be heaped upon us. The postmaster, Mr. Adamich, as he had acted in a very friendly manner over-night, so he continued,^ after his return to our prison- house in the morning, to cheer us. He watched the proceedings in the other room, likewise and prevailed upon the dorfriechter to resist the pandour's proposal of putting us in irons on the instant. As he knew his man, however, and calculated justly on the uses to which he was likely to turn the power which chance had given, he came up to me and whispered, — that as we were going to be taken before the commissary of the circle, he would write a note to that functionary, — and request that I might be dealt witli as little harshly as possible, till the English consul, who had been sent for, should arrive. "But you must take care to deliver my note yourself," said he. " The pandour is a horrid scoundrel, and if I gave it to him, he would be sure to withhold it." I came into this arrangement, as may be supposed, very gladly, and the postmaster withdrew to write his letter. 392 ^Awrvrx BACK TO DAUIIZA. Bv this time the wagon, the same which had heen supplied to us the day before^ drove up to the door, and oar baggage and anns being thrown in, we were desired to mount. TVe did so, and taking our seats on a sac^ found that the pandour and two other men, each armed with a long gnn, were to act as our escort. Of the rest, all who had not departed into the mountains followed on foot, and thus we set out towards Dafaiiza. Never till this moment had I been conscious from the commencement of the whole adyenture, of any feeling which partook at all of the character of despondency. On the contrary, I was more than hopeful through- out ; but now, as we drove back in the direction of the village where we had so recently been subjected to more than insult, I cannot deny that my confidence began to abate. As if the elements, too, were resolved to exert their in- fluence against us, the sky became gradually covered with black clouds, and a thunder-storm began, which continued without intermission, all the while we journeyed down the ravine. Yet the kind postmaster was not forgetful of his promise; and the fidelity with which he seemed to watch over us, was not without its effect. While the wagon was passing his door he ran out, and putting a letter into my hand, PUT IN IRONS- 393 nodded approbation, when he saw me refuse to give to the pandour, and bestow it in my own pocket. On we went, the rain falling in torrents, while the lightning flashed bright and frequent, and the thunder— echoed back from the rocks and precipices near — sounded like a continued discharge of artillery. Once, and only once, we halted at the door of a wine-house, where the pandour, ordering a large flask to be brought out, drank it with his companions in the wagon. And now, having reached the village, we were conveyed, with an extreme show of triumph, along the principal street to the pandour's quarters, where, unwashed, and with coat, and shirt, and garments, dyed in blood, I was not surprised to find that I was an object of extreme curiosity to the crowd, which instantly collected round it. But the pandour was not content . that even thus I should be subjected to incon- venience. He produced his chain and rings,, and with excessive harshness proceeded to force one upon my wrist, and another upon my ankle, and so to fasten me, hand and foot together. It would have been idle to resist, and very foolish to complain, so I only smiled at so wanton a display of ill-feeling ; and never once winced, even when on locking the iron on my s 3 894 VILLANY OF THE PANDOUR- wrist, he bruised the skin till it grew black. Yet even with this the ruffian was not satisfied. I was now powerless. He knew that I was so, and under the pretext of searching for con- cealed arms, he thrust his hand into mj pockety and pulled out the postmaster's letter. I pro- tested against his detention of it, and told him for whom it was meant ; but he laughed in my face, tore it into shreds, and threw the pieces out of the window. Our plight wais by this time sorry enough; and the indignities to which we were subjected, differed in nothing from what might have been expected. That the crowd might have the better opportunity of gratifying both their curiosity and caprices, the door of the rcK>m was thrown open, and the threshold as well as the windows^ were soon blocked up with per- sons anxious to look at us. We should have been amused at all this, had we been certain that the consul would come at all ; but when noon arrived without bringing him, our anxiety rose to a painful height, and the appearances of mirth we considered it necessary from time to time to put on, were generally, I am bound to confess, forced. At length, however, the state of suspense in which for a couple of hours we had remained, was broken in upon by the pan- ARRIVAL OF THE MAGISTRATE. 395 dour, who, with all possible insolence of manner, commanded us to follow him. Hitherto, our t^aggage had been taken charge of by others. Now, — ^I presume for the purpose of degrading us in the eyes of the populace, — we were made to carry it ourselves; and thus loaded and chained, I was conducted along the street, my son walking beside me, and only so far in better plight, that on him no irons were forced. We traversed the whole extent of the town, and being conducted to a house in the principal street, which I found afterwards to be the par- sonage, we were there, at the outer door, so as still to be open to the insults of the mob, desired to stand still. We did so, till by-and- by, a carriage drove into the place, and it was announced to us that it contained the stuhl* riechter. I looked towards the vehicle, and seeing a really not discreditable-looking per- sonage with a beaver hat, black coat, cloth trousers, and other indications of a gentleman about him, my spirit in some sort revived ; for I could not doubt that he at least would both understand and pay proper respect to a passport; and that the rest of my papers would convince him that at least we were not Turks. But I had calculated on more of discernment, — ^rather, perhaps, than of good feeling, — ^than belonged to 396 OUB EXAMINATIOK. him. I saw the pandour make his charge while the carriage stopped in the street, and I advanced to reply to it. *^ Where is your pass?** demanded he. I told him that the gendarme had it in his keeping ; upon which he alighted, went into the priest's house, and for some time I neither saw nor heard more of him. A good half hour at the least had elapsed, when my son and I were ordered to pass the threshold, where, after giving up our knapsacks to undergo examination, we continued for some time longer to be detained in the passage. By- and-by we received a summons to enter the justice-room, where sat the stuhlriechter, ano- ther person, who proved to be the commissary, and the priest of the parish. I really do not know in what terms to describe the sort of examination that followed. Our passports were { in the magistrate's hands ; so were our letters, two of which were to the English minister at Munich, one to the Austrian governor of the Tyrol, and others to persons of similar station elsewhere. I appealed to these as bearing col- lateral testimony to our respectability ; but the magistrate was not acquainted with the French language, and as most of the letters, at least, bore French addresses, he could make nothing of them. Then our march-route, — ^where was it? OUR EXAMINATION. 397 I told him exactly what had befallen, and appealed to the pandour, to corroborate my statement ; but the pandour utterly denied that he had ever seen such a document; and the magistrate, though he knew that we had ob-» tained our forstban, never thought of making the ojfficer explain, how such a privilege came to be conceded to us without the production of a regular order. I heard all this with great in- dignation, and pointing to my chains, asked why I was kept thus, and whether a police-officer were permitted to destroy a letter which had been addressed to the commissary, for the ex-^ press purpose of saving me from, at least, this indignity? The worthy magistrate listened to my appeal, but took no notice of it, and the investi- gation went on after a fashion peculiar to itself. I neither knew at the moment, nor have I ever learned, what the charges were which were brought against me. I believe, indeed, that the ferocity of a savage was laid to my door ; that I was described as ill-using the boy who drove me, the person whose horses had been assigned to me, the pandour who procured all things of which I stood in need ; and in- deed, the entire population of the town and its vicinity. Then, again, the horrible instru- ments of destruction which we carried about 386 OBDESED TO BE with Jjs, being described and produced, our poor innocent fishing-rods became evidence igainst us of a thirst for hmnan life which was finte fearfdL Moreoyer all this was don^ — not under the solemn sanction of an oath, — ^nor jet after deliberate examination of the wit- nesses in detail, — but bj Toices from the crowd, CKh hallooing out, in a dialect which to me was incomprehensible, something which I had no opportunity to contradict, but which was re- eetred, and carefully recorded. But why con- tinue these details ? The results were» that the magistrate, after making sundry marks in our passport, and especially commenting on the circumstance that it had neyer been Tiseed since we crossed the Hungarian frontier, pronounced that we had no business in Croatia at all ; that the Hungarian Chancery having permitted us only to visit Pesth and to return, he should send us back to Agram, there to be dealt with as the law and its administrators might think fitting. I was by far too indignant at the whole of that functionary's proceedings, to waste upon him either much reasoning or any appeal to his better feelings. I told him, indeed, that the English consul had been sent for, and begged him to delay our departure at least till there CONDUCTED TO AGRAM. 39^ should be time for his arriyal. I theb, finding him deaf to that proposal, besought that my chains might be struck o« and pennisaion given to me at least to haye my wounds dressed, and to change my apparel. Of these wounds^ however, though they continued to bleed in his presence, he made very light, though he caused one of our assailants to strip, and affected to shudder at a much more trifling hurt which he had received from me in the melee. He would consent, how- ever, that I should change my dress; and hei directed the pandour to see that this indulgence was granted. But the pandour took orders from no man. Being now fairly committed, we were once more marched back to the pandour^s quar- ters, where not only was water for washing re- fused, and a change of apparel withheld, but the proposal to obtain them was treated as some- thing pre-eminently ridiculous and impertinent^ We were now gloomy enough, for we could not tell how the affair might terminate. The consul, on whose arrival we had hitherto dwelt so much, came not, and the prospect before ua was of a journey to Agram, perfom^ed under the escort of the very men who had maltreated us, and an incarceration afterwards, should we ever reach Agram at all, in some fortress whence it might be both tedious and difficult to make 400 FORTITUDE OF MY SON. our case known even to our own ambassador at Vienna. We looked at one another ruefully enough, and our mirth — for, strange to say, there was some disposition to mirth in our very sad- ness, — ^took a somewhat awkward form. "If they don't separate us, papa," said my son, " we can manage to spend even a month in a dun- geon tolerably well !" " Yes," was the obvious answer, " but there are those at home, your mother and brothers, in a strange land, — what will they think if they hear nothing of us, even for a month ? And then only think of poking our heads through the iron bars, and begging a kreutzer for cha- rity's sake !" We were thus conversing, when a woman^ whom I had observed eyeing us with more than idle curiosity for some time, entered the chamber, and asked us in German if we should like to eat ? I replied at once in the affirmative, for it was now three o'clock, and I had tasted nothing except the sour wine in the cottage, since the previous day at noon. " Well, then, if you will give me the money, I will go and purchase some meat and potatoes, and dress them for you." I thanked her, but told her, what was true, that I had no money, for her people had taken from me every kreutzer. ARRIVAL OF THE CONSUL. 401 "Well, well," replied the kind creature, " you shall have something to eat, notwith- standing." She left us, but in less than half an hour returned with a very palatable mess of stewed beef and a few potatoes. Wine, also, was fur- nished, and we sat down. But the meal was proceeding heavily enough when my son, who sat with his back to the wall, suddenly looked across the table and exclaimed, " Papa, who is that?" I turned round, and beheld standing near me three gentlemen, — one of whom ad- dressed me in English, and hoped that I was not seriously injured. I sprang to my feet. It was Mr. Hill, the English vice-consul, who, with admirable skill as well as diligence, had exerted himself from the instant Mr.Maliovich*s despatch reached him, to afford us such aid as would be effectual to our deliverance; and who, having been nobly supported by the governor of Fiume, was now arrived, bringing in his train a surgeon to dress our hurts, and a legal gentleman, attached to the governor's office, to see that justice was rendered to us. I should entirely fail were I to attempt a description of the effect which such a vision produced upon both of us. We felt from the instant that my hand was grasped in Mr. Hill's, that our troubles 4^2 COMPLETE ALTEEIATION were over, and the lapse of a brief space sufficed tp assure us that our anticipations had been founded on justice. Explanations, and the clearing up of diffi- culties, are always wearisome to follow; and I have said so much of an affiiir purely personal, that I am not willing now to enlarge upon it ; yet there is a debt of gratitude due both to Mr. Hill and his companions which I am bound to discharge. Leaving the surgeon to do his part by washing and bandaging up my hurts, Mr. Hill and his legal adviser proceeded straight to the priest's house, where with some difficulty they prevailed upon the stuhlriechter to re-open the case, and to have me and my accusers again brought before him. There was something almost ludicrous in the revolution which the presence of these gen- tlemen appeared to effect in the department of the parties with whom lay my controversy. The pandour lowered his insolent tone, and became submissive, and well-nigh servile. "Hie priest, who had certainly not befriended me when alone, and who refused to come when I sent to beg an interview with him in our prison-- house, put on a bland and gentle demeanour ; and the commissary protested that he was extremely sorry for what had happened. Nay, \ IN THE STATE OF AFFAIBS. 40^ more, our young driver, whether in contradic- tion of any previous statement or not I cannot tell, now declared that I had never beaten nor otherwise ill-treated him, while the peasant who began the fray was» on the lad's testimony, con-- victed, carried out of the room, and flogged on. the instant. Yet all this while I was subject to treatment which reflected no great honour on the consideration of the authorities which: sanctioned it. The surgeon was in the act of binding up my head, when the stuhlriechter^a pandour, — ^not the miscreant of whose cruelties I had such right to complain, — came, and with great insolence insisted that I diould follow him into the magistrate's presence. I paid no fegard to him, of course, tiU the dressing wa» finished, but then I did follow ; and again they marched me, chained hand and foot together, the whole length of the street. Nay, more^ in this plight, with the iron entering into my flesh, the stuhlriechter permitted me to stand till Mr. Hill protested against the continuation of such usage, and the chains were removed* Finally his intelligent and most zealous legal friend so argued my case, that the magistrate became convinced that he had gone too far; and I was ultimately set free, and given into the hands of the consul. ! t \ 1 ' ',1 y 404 OBSEBYATIONS OK THE It is just that I should state, before I bring this tale to an end, both the steps which were taken in order to obtain redress for so gross an outrage, and the results to which I have been informed that they led. A large portion of blame was laid, both by myself and others, upon the stuhlriechter ; and complaints were lodged against him for having, to say the least of it, greatly exceeded his duty. I am not now sure that I and my friends acted judiciously in making this our chief ground of complaint. The stuhlriechter unquestionably erred. He had no right, on such charges, to set an English passport at defiance; and it was, to say the least of it, very harsh and cruel to keep a wounded man in chains. Moreover, it would have been no slur upon his own or his country's honour, to have waited, before consigning us to prison, for the arrival of the English consul, who from hour to hour was expected. In like manner, he was exceedingly negligent, after the truths of the case were made apparent to him, in vindicating the majesty even of his own laws. Such a brute as the pandour of Dalniza ought not to have been continued in authority one hour; indeed, his violence in tearing a letter which was addressed to the commissary, deserved some punishment more severe than dismissal. CONDUCT OF THE MAGISTRATE. 405 But I do believe that the magistrate erred, rather because he was wanting in experience or sound judgment, than from any desire on his part to violate the rule of right or the law of nations. He was insolent, it is true, and over- bearing, when I stood as a prisoner before him. He disbelieved all that I said, and gave credit, or seemed to give credit, to the peasants ; but then, it must not be forgotten, that I was covered with blood, strange of speech, unwashed, un- shaved, and in every point of view in a plight which certainly laid me open to suspicion. I think, then, that in bringing our chief complaint against him, we were more forgetful than we ought to have been, of the circumstances of extenuation which he had it in his power to plead. On the other hand, I am quite sure that he, in withholding from the person whom he had wronged such an apology as one gentle- man is always bound to offer, and another to accept, did himself no honour; and that the ban of Croatia, in the decision at which they arrived, have given slender proof either of their wisdom or their sense of justice. The magistrate who sanctioned all the vio- lence of which the peasants were guilty, has been screened ; while on the peasants corporal punishment has been inflicted — ^very unneces- 406 JOUBNEY TO FIUME. darilj. Neither I nor anybody else could wish fach men to be flogged. It would have been wiser, and more to the purpose, had the gOTem- ment provided for the safety of that road, by quartering some of its troops in the villages which skirt it. My tale of Hungarian travel is told. Set free from the durance in which for a day and a night we had been kept, we transferred our knapsacks, now restored to us, to Mr. Hill's carriage; and after supping at the kind post- master's house, we continued our journey all night towards Flume. I am not able to say a word concerning the splendid mountain district through which we passed. Though the nuMm dK>ne bright^ I was too ill to reap any benefit from her brilliancy ; indeed, it was only because our friends deemed it unsafe to linger evem z few hours near the spot where the outrage had l>een committed, that they subjected me to tbe inconvenience of this night journey at alL With the return of day, however, my strength so £ur came back, that I could look down with extreme admiration on the glorious bay^ — a portion of the Adriatic, — lat the head of which the town of Fiume is built But why describe a scene MR. SMITH Airo FAMILY, 407 r with which almost all travellers through Italy and Germany are familiar ? Enough is done, when I state that we reached our inn about five in the morning, that I went immediately to bed, and that my brave boy, having had his bruises washed and fomented, was not slow in following my example. We considered ourselves fortunate in having obtained|a comfortable apartment in what seemed to be a very tolerable inn, but fortune was de- termined to deal with us much more kindly. I had not yet risen when Mr. Crofton Smith, one of the leading merchants in Fiume, and tihe proprietor of an extensive paper-manufec- tory there, called upon me, and insisted that we should remove, without loss of time, to his house. For nearly a fortnight we became in consequence his guests ; and the kindness both of himself and of the other inmates of his family, I shall never forget. His young and interest- ing wife nursed me as if I had been her nearest relative. His sister-in-law, Miss Slater, played ^and sang to me as I grew convalescent ; and many a delightful sail we had on the bosom of the Adriatic, while as yet I was too much of an invalid to bear the motion of a horse or a carriage. It is in these situations, and under such circumstances, that an acquaintance of a t f \ i f 4 I » \ 408 CONCLUSION. week or a fortnight's standing, ripens at once into friendship, and I trust the day will never arrive when of that kind pair and their lively relative I shall cease to think as of friends that are very dear to me. Here, then, I lay aside the pen. It would little interest the general reader to be told how, in the bosom of this truly hospitable fa- mily, our time was spent, or how the governor and the rest of the leading inhabitants of the place, vied with one another in their efforts to prove how entirely they deplored the outrage to which we had been subjected. As little would it be worth while to describe our future progress to the caves of Adelsberg, through the fair fields of Italy, and so back by the Tyrol and Bavaria to Dresden. 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